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Dodge ball tournament fundraiser
to be held on May 16
By Melanie Marshall
A Boone woman is preparing to go toe-to-toe with leukemia –
in running shoes.
Boone resident Jennifer
Pillow began training in February to run 26.2 miles as
a fund-raiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Photo by Melanie Davis |
Jennifer Pillow, an adjunct professor of anatomy at Appalachian
State University, an athletic trainer at Watauga High School
and a manager of Peppers Restaurant, has been training since
February to compete in the Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon on June
27 as a part of Team in Training (TNT).
TNT was founded in 1988 and has grown to include more than 30,000
runners, walkers, cyclists, hikers and triathletes who participate
in competition events to raise funds and awareness for the Leukemia
& Lymphoma Society.
Pillow began running by keeping a 2008 New Year’s resolution.
She started slow on a treadmill and began to build up to longer
runs. Pillow is currently running 20-30 miles a week in preparation
for the upcoming marathon.
“I entered races as goals to keep running,” Pillow
said. Since beginning the new fitness regime, she has participated
in a 10K run in Charleston, S.C., a 10-mile run in Washington,
D.C. and a half-marathon in Miami.
Pillow discovered TNT through a conversation with a team visiting
Boone. They began to talk while she was waiting tables at Peppers
in the fall of 2008.
Pillow contacted the coordinator for western North Carolina
and began the process.
She will be competing in the Seattle event with a team based
in Asheville. The team consists of a total of seven people
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