About

My name is Kate I am a mom, a daughter, a wife, a software exec, a grieving friend and a runner. I started this blog in 2011 when I ran the Boston Marathon with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and raised over $10,000 to support the fight against cancer. I am still running and training for a different marathon this go round.

As a few of you know we lost my best friend Becky Gabriel from a very sudden illness this past May. When Becky died I wrote, “for those of us lucky to know her, you know what a tremendous light she is. Her presence lights up every room. She makes everything warmer, happier, funnier–the kind of energy everyone wants to be around. Becky is a connector of the best kind–the glue that holds us all together.

With Becky no one ever felt left out. She had this beautiful way of making everyone feel seen, heard and valued. Like whatever you had to say mattered. Like you belonged. That was her gift– loving people fully and making space for her as they were.”

I’ve spent the last two months pretty lost like so many others that loved Becky. Trying to make sense of something that literally doesn’t make any sense at all. Trying to do even the most basic of things, just comprehending that she’s gone, at least not in the same form that I knew her in. 

When you lose someone you’ve known as long as Becky and I have known each other, 27 years, when you’ve known each other probably better than you knew yourselves, when you were a witness to who each other were, what you did, what you accomplished, what you overcame, and the mistakes you made and came back from….The question that comes to mind is did any of it really matter? Did it really happen at all? Who is going to hold you to account and know you better than you know yourself now? 

Over the last 20+ years the one thing, aside from Becky, that has grounded me has been running. On good days, on bad days, on days I wasn’t sure which they were yet, there has been one single thing I could always do…run.I don’t take lightly what a privilege it is that I’ve had my health that allowed me the luxury of always being able to go for a run. When I needed to work something out in my brain, when I needed to get over something that was bothering me when I needed to figure out a complex problem at work I could run, and then call Becky. 

So now, the only answer I have is to run. I can run. I was planning on running the Marine Corp Marathon before Becky died. I had told B I was thinking about it. She would as always encourage me while also telling me that she thought I was totally crazy but that I should DEFINITELY do it. What I have added into the mix is to raise money for charity while running,because I want to do something in Becky’s memory and iit feels only right that I raise money for the Joslin Diabetes Center. Becky was a type 1 diabetic and a patient at Joslin for many many years. 

In true Becky fashion she would always turn something pretty serious like pretty life altering disease Diabetes and make a joke out of it. She could always laugh at the absurd behavior a low blood sugar would cause. Like the time her sugar was low while she was responsible for bringing an advent candle to the altar during mass one time and her low sugar made her think that walking completely around the stage and setting the candle down on the floor was the right move. 

Becky’s favorite number was 4, she was born on April 4th, she was on of 4 kids in her family, she was only 4feet 11 inches tall. It was her jam. I would love to be able to raise $14,000 to the Joslin in Becky’s memory. Will you help me?