At first, Casey Venters didn’t notice the “ice mullet” that had formed in his hair.
After a 12-mile training run in 22-degree weather and high winds this past December, it took Venters more than half an hour at home to thaw out his unexpected new style.
Venters’ months of snowy winter training paid off March 21, when he completed the 26.2-mile Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, raising $2,606 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of his co-worker, Larry Lewis.
Lewis is known in Campbell County’s Brookville community as the man behind bhsbees.com, an unofficial Brookville High School Web site that has served as a major portal of information about the school since 1996. The school honored Lewis’ volunteer effort during a special Larry Lewis night at a home football game last fall.
Lewis was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma last May. Venters, looking for a way to help, decided to join the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training, in preparation for the Shamrock Marathon.
Team-In-Training is a charity sports training program that has raised more than $1 billion for blood cancer research and patient services.
“I didn’t know anything about biology or oncology or anything like that, but this was something I could do,” said Venters, who lives in Forest.
He had run a half-marathon but never a full marathon, so he set out training and fundraising. He got together on weekends to run with seven or so other members of the Team-in-Training in Lynchburg. Some were training for the Shamrock Marathon, others for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville.
As he worked to raise money, Venters also learned more about just how many people in the Lynchburg area are affected by blood cancers. His fundraising e-mails were often met with stories about relatives struggling with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
“I hadn’t realized how widespread it was,” Venters said.
As he worked to build up his mileage, he built up the list of sponsors on his fundraising Web site, individuals, families and businesses, each giving between $5 and $100.
On the day of the marathon, Venters ran the first 13 miles or so in two hours. Then he felt his muscles tighten up in a painful way. By the end of the marathon he was forced to walk. Even that really hurt, Venters said, but he kept his mind on his goal and finished the race in 5 hours, 32 minutes and 19 seconds.
“I would do it again,” Venters said, remembering the wave of intense happiness he felt as he crossed the finish line with his family watching.
Throughout the race, Venters wore a laminated sign on his back to show that he was running in honor of Lewis.
“I’d been working with him for seven to nine years, pretty much side by side,” Venters said. “My co-workers have been like my family. It’s just something you do.”
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