DONNA Marathon Weekend

Family and Friends,

When your loved one is diagnosed with cancer, it is a scary moment in life. My mother-in-law, Clarice Coston, was diagnosed with it and fought the battle for years before her passing in 2016.  During that time, the best anyone could do was listen to our fears and be there for us as we tried to support her in her fight.  And when she died,  the best we could do to honor her memory was to run in races like the Donna Marathon Weekend and help raise money for the DONNA Foundation through these races to #finishbreastcancer.   Running for the DONNA Foundation makes us feel like we are supporting those fighting this illness and their friends and family helping them in this battle.  

Advice? It’s OK not to be OK as you and your loved ones fight this battle. 

We have been runners over the last two decades, and to see someone out on the course wearing pink, sporting a shirt or running skirt to show they were running for the cause, the cause to find a cure, meant so much. 
We have been doing our Run Eat Drink Podcast for almost eight years. We feature destination races that usually support causes and charities. We are passionate about the way DONNA Marathon Weekend and other FEARLESS Series events and about the work the DONNA Foundation does to support research to end this disease and those in treatment and recovery.  Then, we show our audience where to explore and indulge in local food and beverages to celebrate the accomplishment. 

When we started the show, our good friends at Pure Creative Apparel designed our logo and made our apparel. Then again came to our aid and created a unique version of our logo so we could have shirts with the pink ribbon representing the fight to end cancer and my mother-in-law’s name.  Then I reached out to Bolder, then Sparkle Skirts, to put her name and our logo in pink on the running skirt I’d wear at DONNA Marathon Weekend, where we’d run the half marathon to honor Clarice.   Running in this gear, meeting others doing the same, as well as those running and still fighting, and crossing the finish line to honor her at any DONNA event is an emotional and overwhelming experience. One we have repeated each year.

Running for a cause like this makes it possible to run for ourselves and simultaneously make it count in the race to finish breast cancer. 

As I train for the 2026 Booby Trap Challenge (Half), I am fundraising to support The DONNA Foundation! Will you join me in supporting the Foundation’s mission to provide hope, support, and financial relief to those with breast cancer? 

Thank you,
Aimee (and Dana) from the Runcation Nation and Run Eat Drink Podcast