Rachel Belcher knows she'll be teary-eyed when she crosses the starting and finish lines for The Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon Sept. 14.
She'll be thinking about her mom and brother, both of whom died of AIDS.
She just wants to run 13.1 miles for her mom, Suzanne Carlson, who died in 1990; and for her younger brother, Clifford ( known as Gipper ) , who died in 1991, two days after his seventh birthday.
'I've wanted to do this for a few years now, but I never really had the courage to run that many miles,' said Belcher, 27, a Chicago native who graduated from Taft High School in 1998 and attended Wright College. She now works as an optician at Lakeview Eye Care.
'I know that there were a lot of people out there suffering from HIV and AIDS, and they don't have the funds for the medication [ needed ] , so I wanted to do what I could to help them. Yeah, this [ run ] is very personal.'
Belcher is one of about 800 runners training for four races supported by the NAMTP ( the National AIDS Marathon Training Program ) . Last year, NAMTP runners raised $1.1 million for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. NAMTP organizers hope to raise $1.5 million this season.
'When I was putting some information into our database, I noticed that [ Belcher ] had changed some text on her [ fundraising ] Web page. The part that really caught my eye was about her mother and her brother, which was in red ink,' said John Beach, a program representative for NAMTP. 'I was really touched when I heard her story.
'We have participants who are touched personally by family or friends who are HIV-positive or have AIDS, such as Rachel. We also have participants who are HIV-positive or have AIDS.'
'When I'm running now, when I'm training now, I'm just thinking about them,' Belcher said of her mother and brother. 'When I get tired, I just tell them that they better get me through it because it's going to be a tough obstacle for me. And I know for sure they will be with me on race day because I've never done anything this challenging.'
In 1984, when her brother was born, he had an immunity problem and was having trouble holding food down. He had surgery and, during tests, it was determined that he was HIV-positive. Her mom then was tested, and it was determined that she had AIDS.
' [ Gipper ] was always smiling, always happy. He always wanted to make sure that everyone else was always taken care of. He never let anyone know the pain that he was feeling; he always wanted to make sure that you were OK,' said Belcher, who is HIV-negative.
'Talking with friends and family, they gave me the encouragement that I could do it. Yeah, I'm very nervous, but I know that I'm going to complete it.'
To register for races, visit www.aidsmarathon.com . For more information on the NAMTP, call John Beach at 312-765-0210.
