While in the hospital for 2 weeks with our son in January ‘23, my wife Cindy & I admired the t-shirts worn by all the wonderful nurses which had bold lettering on the back with IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT CANCER. That inspired an idea which we’d like to share with you.
As a way to help expedite more breakthroughs in cancer research, we formed Team Imagine. Team Imagine members walk or run 3.1 miles on the Saturday of the Boston Marathon Weekend at 8:00 a.m. in their respective hometowns to raise money for cancer research. Simultaneoussly, teammates will be walking or running Boston's B.A.A. 5K during Marathon Weekend. The in-person 2024 5K sold out at 10,000 people in just a few hours.
We are a family of runners, so this is a natural fit. My dad ran the Boston Marathon 20 times, one of which I had the honor of running stride for stride with him. I ran D-1 for UMass, my brother Michael ran for BC and two of my sisters Kara Salit and Christine Gregorek ran for Georgetown. My sister in-law Christina Walsh ran for University of Illinois and my brother in-law John Walsh ran the Chicago Marathon 15 times. My brother in-law John Gregorek also ran for Georgetown and is a 2 x Olympian. In the next generation, our four children Kevin, Brendan, Michael and Kaitlin all ran. Brendan was team captain the year he, Kevin, my nephews Brian Salit, Matthew Salit and Timothy Salit along with my late nephew Patrick Gregorek were part of a Massachusetts State Class Championship team. My nieces Sarah Mullen ran for St. Anselm, Jennifer Salit ran for Fairfield U and Rachel Gregorek ran for PC. My nephews Adam Mullen ran for Connecticut College, Drew Barao ran for Denison College and Nick Barao ran for PC (4:12 miler). My sister's son John Gregorek aka Johnny G, holds the 8th fastest indoor mile time in the world, 3rd fastest in US history at 3:49.98 and is training for the '24 Olympics in Paris. He is currently ranked in the top 10 in the USA and top 50 in the world!
The BAA 5K race will take place on Saturday April 13, 2024 in conjunction with the Boston Marathon which will take place that Monday. My Mom who is 88 years young will be making the 5K trek in Boston again this year along with her children, spouses, grandchildren as well as some speedster family friends of ours from the Track & Field world.
Team Imagine has grown to over 100 teammates and has raised over $180,000 since we formed the team last yeat. Team Imagine is growing quicker than we imagined!
We can't wait for the super fun race day when, Team Imagine, once again gathers on the Boston Commons and across the country remotely to celebrate post race.
Imagine A World Without Cancer!
-Dave & Cindy
