Oakton Resident Trains to Help 'Kick Cancer's Butt'

When Karen McWilliams starts to feel overwhelmed while training, she chants two words to regain motivation.

Rhonda. Lori. Rhonda. Lori.

Karen, of Oakton, is a triathlete and marathoner, but try telling her that. She has no aspirations to notch a record-breaking time on a marathon, nor be a champion triathlete. Instead, she signs up for race after race because it's her way of raising money for a cause dear to her family: cancer research and awareness.

Rhonda Coleman, her younger cousin, died of leukemia in 2005. Lori Turner, Karen's sister, has been cancer-free since 2009 after a battle with lymphoma.

Karen also had an aunt who died of cancer, her grandparents and a pastor, too. Her grandmother-in-law is currently terminal with stage four cancer. The list goes on, and she adds their names to her chant when she's looking for inspiration.

She tries not to revel too much in the sadness of it. She takes action, instead: "I'm a doer. If my cousin and my sister could wake up every morning and battle through cancer, I could run a marathon. It's mind over matter."

So she signed up with Team in Training to help prepare her for the Marine Corps Marathon, which she ran in honor of her cousin the year after she died. Then after her sister's diagnosis, she organized a team of friends and family to run the Virginia Beach Rock 'N' Roll half marathon through Team in Training, the group with which she and her youngest sister Robin are currently training in preparation for The Nation's Triathlon on Sunday.

For each race, she raises money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Karen's life before signing up for races was booked, Lori said. She was surprised Karen had decided to add a marathon to a busy schedule, but was not surprised her older sister found a way to organize her life to accommodate it.

"When Karen commits to something, that's it. She's committed. There's no backing down," Lori said. "She's always been very organized, which I really admire about her."

Lori found comfort in the fact that her friends and family came together to train and participate in the half marathon while she battled cancer, and is grateful Team in Training not only provides a way for people to prepare for the events, but also builds a supportive community.

"It puts a warm feeling in your heart," Lori said. "It makes me feel really good to know that people even outside my family come together for a cause that directly affected me. ... When I was battling cancer, I would get calls and emails from the team, people I didn't know particularly well, telling me they supported me and wishing me the best. It made a world of difference, it really did."

Karen is an employment lawyer for eTrade Financial and an involved mother of two, who trains every weekend with Team in Training's Fairfax chapter.

Personable and talkative, Karen is grateful trainers encourage talking with one another as a running technique. She said it's impossible not to bond with the other runners, and knowing their stories becomes a motivator.

"I would not be doing it by myself," she said. "You really get to know the people you're training with over the 14 weeks. You get to know their story, and relate with them because you've been through something similar."

She now participates in multiple events a year, easily reaching her money goal each time, crediting her supportive family for helping her raise the money.

She said she has found her husband, O'Kelly McWilliams III, is one of her most fervent fans, often filling in friends and family about her next race before she has the chance.

Perhaps the most fulfilling side effect of her involvement in Team in Training has been how her children have become aware and active as much as a 14-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy can be.

"My kids are my best fundraisers," she laughed. "They will walk up and talk to anyone to try to sell them a cookie or whatever. ... And when they hear of a 5k to raise money for a cause of some sort, they sign up."

Her family as a whole has become aware of cancer the hard way, but Karen does everything she can to stay aware of symptoms so that if anyone else is diagnosed, they're diagnosed early.

"Before Rhonda, I was really just aware of breast cancer and how to do self-checks," she said. "Since Rhonda, I go to informational sessions, I research new treatments and updates on where science is in curing it. ... I'm much more quick to tell people to go to a doctor if they feel something is wrong. I'm not a hypochondriac, I'm just super vigilant. You have to be with a family history like mine."

After The Nation's Triathlon, Karen plans to keep signing up for more events and raising more money with one goal in mind: "We're going to kick cancer's butt."

And Lori is hopeful she'll be able to remain cancer-free, an optimism she is determined to hold onto to help live her life to its fullest.

"I look at life a lot differently. I don't take things for granted and I'm trying to get my life in order as far as the rest of my health is concerned," Lori said. "I just value life more. Once you go through something like this, you know you might not be here next year. Tomorrow's not promised."

To donate to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Karen's page, click here. Money is collected for a month after the race is completed.