Troy Carlson
Age 30
Hometown: Houston, TX

This is Troy Carlson’s fourth year to run for a reason. He runs for the American Cancer Society. This will be his first time to run the Chevron Houston Marathon, he ran the Chicago Marathon in 2008 and 2010 for the American Cancer Society. Although he didn’t run in 2009 due to an injury it didn’t stop him from reaching his fundraising goal.

Running for a reason is important to Carlson; his father lost his battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Since the passing of his father Carlson he has seen more people who are both friends and family struggle with the disease. “No one goes through life without being affected by cancer in some way,” said Carlson.

Helping others who are affected by cancer and doing his part to help prevent those from having to go through the struggle he saw his father go through. He says running for a charity has impacted both his training and performance during a race.

“There have been times when I was pretty ready to stop during one of my long training runs, but then remembered how small and insignificant my discomfort is compared to the very real pain that so many people suffering from cancer bravely endure,” said Carlson.

Carlson is looking forward to the Chevron Houston Marathon and the challenge of finishing a marathon which is something he says is fun. He enjoys hearing the encouraging words from the crowd. More importantly he said “I love the feeling of knowing that the race I’ve just run will help in the ongoing battle against cancer.”

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