The Boston Marathon takes place today. And one runner -- known to friends and family as Running Bear -- will run to raise money for brain tumor research. She's already collected more than $3,500.

Harvard student Sarah MacCarthy, 25, will run for her Uncle Tim, who is battling glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive form of the primary brain tumors known collectively as gliomas.

If Uncle Tim can fight for his life, MacCarthy can use her privilege of good health to make a difference -- even if it means stepping up her casual running to marathon standards.

The Brain Tumor Society will benefit from MacCarthy's determination. Dedicated to improving quality of life for patients, survivors, and families affected by this disease, BTS is committed to being a national leader in the quest for a cure.

It seems MacCarthy is pretty committed herself. To contribute to her efforts and check on her progress, click here.

It's not surprising marathon runners face an increased risk of skin cancer due to long-term sun exposure. What's surprising is that so many are not taking measures to protect themselves from the sun's damaging rays.

A team of Austrian researchers, all of them dermatologists, became interested in studying long-distance runners when they realized they had collectively treated eight ultra-marathon runners with malignant skin cancer over a period of 10 years. All researchers are themselves enthusiastic runners, and two of them participate in marathons. The topic was near and dear to their hearts.

Research was conducted on white runners, so it is unclear if the findings -- listed below -- apply to black runners.

• Only 56 percent of runners in the study reported wearing sunscreen. Most were unaware of the increased risk to their skin -- and even the running researchers report it is good to be reminded to wear the right gear and regularly use sunscreen

• Many runners race with a lot of skin exposed. And sometimes training clothing covers different areas than racing clothing. Shoulders that are covered during training may be exposed during the long hours of a marathon. During triathlons, most wear a bathing suit for the duration of the event, leaving most skin susceptible to burning. Runners can lower their risk by training during morning and evening hours and wearing water-resistant sunscreen. They can wear clothing made of new fabrics that screen harmful ultraviolet rays.

• It's possible that endurance athletes may have suppressed immune systems caused by repeated tissue damage, leaving them more vulnerable to skin cancer.

While some marathon runners take pride in a bronzed skin -- proof they are running in the elements -- researchers hope runners will consider the risk they face. In some races, volunteers offer to quickly apple sunscreen on athletes who don't want to lose precious seconds as they race for the finish line. It's a start.

When last we posted about Jane Tomlinson's Ride Across America to raise breast cancer awareness and money for cancer research, she was having a difficult time.

In hip and back pain from recently finishing chemotherapy just two weeks before she left San Francisco -- final destination New York -- she began suffering dehydration and extreme fatigue near Cedar City. The diary entry for that day of the ride read, "All we need now is your good thoughts and a massive change of luck."

Tomlinson rallied with renewed energy, continued on, and yesterday she made it to the halfway point of her coast-to-coast ride.

I am following her journey with great enthusiasm because of her courage and strength. Six years ago, when she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, she was told she had six months to live. Not only has she outlived all predictions, she is also known as the only cancer patient to complete a full Ironman triathlon and the first person to run a marathon while on chemotherapy. During chemotherapy, I had trouble walking across the room or keeping jello down. Jane is incredible.

Keri, who blogs 500 Miles 2 Nowhere, is blogging Blogathon 2006 to raise money for a cancer cure. Keri runs every day in honor of someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, raising money for cancer research that will lead to a cure. Fueled by coffee, and a laptop, she will spend part of the blogathon as a traveling blogger blogging every 30 minutes for the next 24 hours.

The birth of the Blogathon began in 2000, when blogger Cat Conner had an idea to blog Frytopia every 15 minutes for a continuous 24 hours. She watched movies, drank Mountain Dew and made 96 posts. After Connor successfully managed to accomplish the personal challenge of maniac marathon insomniac blogger madness, she decided it might make for a good fundraiser. Bloggers found sponsors and the Blogathon was on.

This is Keri's first Blogathon. Her charity of choice won't surprise any of her friends. Through her own blogging effort to keep blogging solid for the next 24 hours, she is raising money for the ACS Relay For Life of Hudson. If you have a minute, pop on in -- she promises words and photos and all things blogathon.

One of my favorite bloggers and brightest lights in the cancer blogging community Keri, who is still running for a reason, and who blogs 500 Miles 2 Nowhere, has announced she will be blogging the Blogathon 24 hour marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.

Starting July 29, and fueled by coffee, she will blog every 30 minutes for a total of 48 posts. Why is she doing it?

"Because my auntie and our dear friend and my neighbor from out in Kinnic and Jodi's mom and so damn many others are fighting. Kids and adults and too many. Doesn't it seem like there are more now than ever before?

And I'm so very thrilled the strides that are being made and I want to be involved in all of those future strides by raising the funds that will pay for the research that is going to find the cure."

Keri doesn't say this but she is also doing it because she is a delightfully spirited and passionately fun woman who is always up for an adventure in doing anything to fight and beat cancer. She runs and runs and runs for those who have been diagnosed with cancer for the purpose of raising money for the research that will bring a cure.

Keri has promised to post photos and plans to visit various locations as a traveling Blogathon marathon blogger. I will be there cheering her on and checking in as she blogs for a worthy cause. Keri is taking sponsorship donations through ACS Relay For Life. Go here if you would like to show your support.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. -- Shakespeare.

For Sonia, Alicia, Gloria, Maria -- women of deep religious faith who made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City -- the visit was miraculous. Blanca Crovetto-Avancena arranged the Pasos de Esperanza, or Steps of Hope ten-mile walk the women took to the basilica. She runs the weekly San Francisco East Bay Spanish-speaking women's emotional and social support group for Latina women living with cancer. Crovetto-Avancena said the visit has lifted the spirits of these women trying to survive cancer and given each of them a remarkable sense of renewed hope.

In the feature article, Latina women 'cured' on pilgrimage, Crovetto-Avancena said that "while Americans organize fundraisers with walk-a-thons and marathons, those types of events are not part of the Latin American culture. But praying to the Virgin Mary at the place where she is said to have appeared in Mexico holds great significance."

Knowing this, she came up with the idea of arranging the pilgrimage as a way for Latinas to raise money for the support group that would also provide personal spiritual benefit for the women. All four women have reported great improvement in the way they feel. Sonia said, "Right now, nothing hurts. I don't feel that aching anymore that I felt when I left." Alicia said, "I feel cured spiritually, mentally and physically." To read more about the trip, go here.

When John Richard Baker, Assistant National Park Officer for the Yorkshire Dales, died in July 1998 from leukemia, his wife Annie and her best friend Chris got the ladies of the local Women’s Institute together with the idea of producing a calendar to raise money for cancer charity. Each month would feature a different woman in the women's group, doing ordinary things like making jam, flower arranging, or knitting. The traditional idea had a radical twist -- the women would appear nude. The calendar gained international attention which eventually led to the filming of the Calendar Girls movie.

When Baker was diagnosed with cancer, he began growing sunflowers and gave them to friends and family --hoping to live long enough to see them fully-bloomed. Unfortunately, he lost his life to cancer before that happened. The sunflower has become the cancer charity fundraising activities symbol for his family and friends.

Wearing bras decorated in sunflowers, the Calendar Girls, together with friends and family, are now training for London's Playtex Moonwalk, a cancer charity fundraising event in which thousands of women walk 26.2 miles through the night wearing elaborately decorated bras.  While the past efforts of the women's group have raised more than £1m total for leukemia research, this walk will be for breast cancer charity. In addition, the Calendar Girls recently launched a 2007 calendar. Profits from the calendar will continue to go to leukemia research.

Six years ago, when Jane Tomlinson was diagnosed with advanced metastatic breast cancer, the doctors said she had six months to live. Instead of dying, she has gone on to compete in a number of triathlons --including a 2,500-mile bike ride, from Rome to Leeds and last year the New York Marathon -- all to raise money for breast cancer charity. At the end of the year, after raising £1.25m total for cancer charity, the mother of three took a break.

Tomlinson is back. On June 29, she will begin cycling 4,200 miles across America for cancer charity. Beginning at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and ending in New York, Tomlinson's Ride Across America will bring her charity fundraising to a £2m total or better. Tomlinson is currently undergoing chemotherapy, but will have five weeks to recover from that before she begins her ride. Tomlinson, 42, will have the company of Leeds Metropolitan University lecturer Ryan Bowd, 27, of Calgary, Canada, and 40-year-old Martyn Hollingworth, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire on her 62 day challenge. You can learn more about this inspiring breast cancer survivor, her remarkable adventures of accomplishments in living and upcoming progress at Jane's Appeal. Jane Tomlinson has also written a book called The Luxury of Time. I am on my way over to Amazon right now.

Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners and the race director, is giddy with delight when she talks about Lance Armstrong's participation in November's New York Marathon. "Lance epitomizes both the American spirit and the spirit of the marathon and it is no surprise that his drive, motivation and focus leads him to his next challenge - 26.2 miles on foot. Lance is a born winner and has a Midas touch. I can guarantee this year's New York City Marathon will have a shine to it like never before because of Lance."

Lance Armstrong, winner of seven consecutive Tour de France races and quite possibly the most famous and publicly visible cancer survivor of our day, refers to the race as something to fill a void in his life after he quit competing as a professional cyclist. New York Daily News Christian Red, who wrote the article about Armstrong's marathon participation, muses that in this race Armstrong certainly won't be able to draft - cycling jargon for conserving energy while riding behind other cyclists. He'll be lucky if he gets a favorable wind blowing from behind.

Well you knew he wasn't going to retire from competition and go home to sit in an easy chair. Armstrong conquers things, and he is a man who needs something to conquer. He has taken on cancer survivorship and cancer survivorship issues on behalf of all cancer survivors with the same determination and will he used in his cyclist racing days. And Wittenberg is right -- the New York Marathon will be just that much more interesting with Armstrong running in it.

I met Nigel Gooding this morning by way of a comment he left regarding the blog post about men being twice as likely to die of cancer than women. As a man, he found the study to be a patronizing generalization that might be factually incorrect. As I am normally allergic to patronization and generalization myself, I took as second look at the study and the way the post presented the information. Because his entire comment was both fair and intelligent in the points he had to make, I emailed Nigel with my take on it, and then went for a visit to read his blog. Gooding is a 42, single, co-father of Will and Ellen, and a throat cancer survivor who blogs The Ferryman's Column. He describes his blog as, "a quirky, light hearted approach which documented my treatment, and now recovering and living with a cancer that kills one in two people that get it."

Gooding's last post is in regard to the bird flu and cancer, that starts out with "It has been a few days since I posted and no I have not been rounding up dead swans in an attempt to rid the World of bird flu." Before I read further, I knew I was going to enjoy his writing and I was going to like this person. He describes the fundraising marathon he was gearing up for and participated in, as well as his observations and thoughts about life in general. In my opinion, the single best aspect of the blogosphere is in the connections you can make, and in the people you find. Gooding may describe his blog as quirky and lighthearted -- I would add delightful, insightful, inspirational and real. The Ferryman's Column is on my short list of blogs to read now.