On November 1, I will be in New York alongside my sister and other fellow AKF Run Team members, running in the TCS New York City Marathon. This will be my first marathon!

I started running after the birth of my second baby in 1998 to lose the “baby weight.” I never worried about distance and I didn’t run races. I just liked to run.

Then I got more interested in fitness and started working at a local gym, where I taught group fitness classes, so I didn’t get to run as much.

In 2012 I signed up to run my first half marathon. I trained hard and finished with a time of 1:47, the twelfth woman to finish. I was hooked! I ran more half marathons. When I turned 40 I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. It became a “bucket list” item and if I was going to do a marathon I wanted it to be a big one.

So I set my sights on the New York City Marathon. I entered the lottery in 2014 but wasn’t accepted. I wasn’t going to give up. I was determined! Then my sister ran in the Boston Marathon where she met Jennifer. She told me about the Aga Khan Foundation what they do for communities in Africa and Asia. I was especially impressed by how the Foundation improves education for children. That is truly a meaningful investment.

My sister and I are running buddies and we decided that we would apply together to join the Foundation’s run team. We were so excited when we received the news that we had been chosen!

We get to run in my “bucket list” dream race, while raising funds and awareness for a great organization that is doing important work, helping children get a better start in life.

We have a long way to go but we’re a team and encourage each other. This time around the hardest part of training is the hills! We don’t have many hills here so I have to practice them on a treadmill. I don’t normally do treadmill runs, but I’m doing them.

Please visit my Crowdrise page, and help us achieve the goal of having the New York Marathon make a difference in building better futures!

By Shannon Rowley, AKF Run Team member