Dear Beagle Editor, Last Sunday my son Sam (24) completed the New York Marathon along with over 50,000 other runners. He finished in a time of just under 5 hours. Although he wasn't overly happy with his time the fact that he even finished was impressive enough for me. When Sam phoned me late April and started the conversation with "Mum.... can you help me raise $10,000?" I instantly wondered what sort of trouble he had got himself into! He went on to explain that he had signed up to run the NY Marathon for the McGrath Foundation and needed to raise the funds for them. Sam’s choice to enter was prompted by my diagnosis of advanced breast cancer 10 years ago. Unfortunately, as you can see, Sam didn't quite raise the $10k due to things going horribly wrong this year. Sam was a "late entrant" compared to others joining the Foundations runners so didn't have the same time frame. To make it worse, my partner suddenly passed away in June so that put a halt to Sam, his sister Kate or I doing any fundraising for some time. Sam has pledged to continue until he makes it though. Sam has lived in Batemans Bay since he was 5 years old. He played football for the Batemans Bay Seahawks until he moved away for work. He now lives in Perth. I haven't spoken to Sam since the Marathon as he is still in America but no doubt will get all the details of the race and his travels when he returns in a few days. Just thought it would be nice to share our story and Sam’s accomplishment. Cheers JENNY (Sam’s mum)
