Maria's Story

Maria Eid has been running "forever". She ran her first marathon at the age of fifteen. Seven years ago she decided to challenge her mind and body even further and began competing in triathlons, where she found her new love, the ironman.

An ironman triathlon consists of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, followed by 26.2 miles of running – about the distance between Windsor and Woodstock - and Maria is a seven-time ironman tri-athlete. This past May, she had a personal best at the Buffalo Marathon of just under 4 hours, which qualifies her for the world’s oldest annual road race event – the prestigious Boston Marathon.

This amazing athlete is also a wife, mother of four daughters and a registered oncology nurse at the Cancer Centre. Five years ago Maria decided to create her own charity road race, combining her love of sport with her passion for her work.

"The Cancer Centre is an awesome place to work, with awesome people to work with", Maria stated. "Working here exposes you to the needs of our patients and our cancer program. I wanted to do something to contribute to the ongoing improvements being made to the quality of care our patients receive.", Maria said.

Running From Cancer is held on the last Sunday in July each year. Situated along the scenic shores of Lake St. Clair, the event features a half marathon, 10K, 5K, Kids 1K and Disney Dash, with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Buzz Lightyear and Woody all lacing up their sneakers to run with the kids. The goal for this year’s event is to surpass the $100,000 mark for the total raised.

The event raises money for the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre (through the Foundation) as well as the Oncology Program at Windsor Regional Hospital. Specifically, donations help to ensure:

• that the medical staff of the Cancer Program are trained on state-of-the-art technology and equipment,
• that clinical trial teams have adequate funding for ongoing cancer research, and
• that the Cancer Program is able to promote and provide the highest quality of care with respect and dignity for patients and their families.

Maria encourages everyone to "come out this July and run, you’ll love it!" If you would like more information about Running From Cancer, please visit www.runningfromcancer.com or www.runningfactory.com. If you would like to make a donation in support of this event, please contact 519-735-4742.