newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JERRY MILANI

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Running a marathon is one of those lifetime achievements that thousands point to as life-altering – an accomplishment just as much mental as physical. Many times it is the culmination of years of repetition and sacrifice, training in cold and rain and heat, and a cathartic experience never to be forgotten.

There will be thousands of those stories that will play out on the streets of Long Branch, Asbury Park, Deal and many other towns as the New Jersey Marathon winds along in a few weeks. These are stories of sacrifice and years of training, all with a shared goal – finishing the distance and crossing another item off the bucket list.

There will be many who will point to this has a life changing event, a once in a lifetime accomplishment. Still others will chalk it up to another race along life’s path, a brief stop in a healthy lifestyle of physical fitness and activity. It is that mix of personal stories which makes the marathon such a compelling life experience, both for those in the race and those supporting them on the sidelines.

One runner, who will make the transition from supporter to participant this year, has waited her whole life for this chance, even though her life has only been just over nine years thus far. Her name is Sarah Bier, and she will be competing as part of a relay team in the half marathon, her first, with her parents David and Diane and a team of 15 people from their Milltown community.

At nine, Sarah will be the youngest runner in either the half or full marathon this year (there are age limits on competing in the full marathon), but running has been in her blood her whole life.

“Since she was a baby, she has asked when she could run with me in a race, and now we wanted to give her a chance, it’s very exciting for us to be able to do this as a family,” Diane said recently on the telephone. Sarah was there by her side battling a cold, but that will not prevent her from running.

And while Sarah may be the youngest competitor, she and her family will not be alone in using the marathon as a rallying point for a cause, and theirs is brain tumor awareness and research. David, Sarah’s dad, and Diane’s husband, was diagnosed with a tumor in 2002 and continues to battle with a disease that doctors said should have ended his life several years ago. Yet today, eight years later, he continues to improve and will be running the course with wife and daughter for their Central New Jersey Brain Tumor Support Group, with the goal of eventually raising $10,000 from donations for the three of them and their other team members.

“I grew up running and have always enjoyed it, from high school (Newtowne) and college (Montclair State), so when I realized I could run and help raise awareness for whatever cause needed support I was all for it,” said Diane, who has competed in the New York City and Philadelphia Marathons as well as other smaller events in the area. She had actually stopped running competitively for a while, especially after David’s diagnosis, but then joined “Ya Gotta Believe,” the group raising funds for brain cancer awareness in the name of late New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw, who died of a brain tumor in 2004.

Diane ran New York in 2007 and Philadelphia in 2008, all the while working with a local support group who was helping the family deal with all the issues of David’s illness. It was then that she pulled together her own running group, which was dedicated to get the funds needed to offset the costs for a semi-yearly conference held in the area to raise awareness and research dollars into the cause of brain tumors. David, who also enjoys scuba diving, grew up in Sayreville and his brother also is suffering from a brain tumor.

The Biers turned running and training into a family affair with husband and wife taking turns running and walking ever-growing distances with Sarah, in preparation for her first race on May 1.

“It started as something to do and has grown into an activity we can do as a family and help others, which is a great way to stay involved and active not just for ourselves but in the community as well,” she added. “There is a great deal that is not known or communicated about brain tumors, and this is a very strong way to get the word out and raise money which is so vital in the awareness process.”

The Biers are not alone in using the Marathon as a platform to raise awareness and funds for cause-related activities. The race will assist hundreds of charities, which will raise over $1.5 million this year, according to Race Director Art Castellano. “We are not about the stars, we are about the people,” he added.

It is those people, and the milestones they will achieve, that makes the race so unique, and the sacrifices so worthwhile, whether the runner is nine or 80, or made up of a family whose ages are somewhere in between.