After Gweneviere Mann was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2008, she and her husband Yasir Salem began running together.
Although Gwen suffered from short-term memory loss after having the tumor removed, the couple ran eight marathons, including seven in their hometown of New York City.
But 10 years later, Gwen, a non-smoker, developed a rare form of lung cancer due to the exon 20 gene mutation. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in April of 2018 and died two months later at the age of 47.
Now, Salem, 42, is running in honor of her memory. He is running 50 marathons in 50 states over a one-year period, and the Sept. 28 Mill Race Marathon in Columbus will be No. 43 on the list.
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“The purpose of what I’m doing is two-fold,” Salem said. “We have a message to put out there, which is go to your doctor to get a low-dose CTC scan. That is the first standard diagnosis for lung cancer. “It’s an asymptomatic disease, and I want people to know this can affect anybody.”
So Salem started the Gweneviere Mann Foundation to spread awarneess for early detection. He said only 2 percent of people under the current guidelines set by the American Cancer Society are getting screened.
“There’s a big phenomena out there right how where there’s a population of young women who are non-smokers who are getting lung cancer,” Salem said. “Gwen was not a smoker. She ate organic food. We filter our water. She fought and won a battle against a brain tumor for 10 years before cancer struck her. We want people to be aware that this is a thing and see that someone even as healthy as Gwen can get lung cancer.”
‘50 in 50 initiative’
Salem’s quest, called the “50 in 50 initiative” began with the New York City Marathon last November.
The last week of August, Salem ran marathons in Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota. He did No. 40 in Idaho two weekends ago.
“That sounds really hard and difficult,” Salem said. “The running part is actually not that hard for me anymore. It’s the traveling. I’d rather knock out two races out west in one weekend and not have to travel back out the following week.”
Salem ran marathons in Alaska on June 22 and then Kona, Hawaii, on June 28. Once those were in place, he began scheduling the rest.
This weekend, Salem has a rare off-week. He’ll head back west next weekend to do marathons in Oregon and Montana.
“It’s a puzzle trying to fit 50 marathons in less than a year,” Salem said. “I put together a list of the best ones I had to go to, which is New York and Chicago and San Francisco, which is where Gwen is from, and then Austin, Texas, where I am from. Then I tried to find efficiencies, like, could I knock out South Dakota and Nebraska and Wyoming in one week?”
Salem is partnering with Weil Cornell in New York City to do a lung screening program at conclusion of the 50 in 50 program. He also is one of seven runners who are partnering with the American Cancer Society, and so far, each has raised more than $3,500.
“Not only are we just raising money for the foundation for our own programs, we’re impacting programs that we feel are doing good work,” Salem said.
Choosing Columbus
This year’s Mill Race Marathon will be the first for Salem. He said the event’s size was a drawing point.
“That one just looked like a pretty nice town and a good course,” Salem said. “I like medium-sized races, which this fits the bill. Some of my favorite marathons are the medium-sized ones — not too big, not too small. I like to get some breathing room, and there’s some space to kind of run and do your thing.”
Next year, Salem plans to run all six marathon majors — Boston, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and London.
Although Salem thinks he may be able to gain an invitation to the Boston Marthon because of his cause, he is hoping to run a qualifying time. The qualifying standard for the 40-44 men’s age group is 3 hours, 5 minutes. Salem’s personal best is 3:57 at the Phoenix Marathon in March, but he thinks he can go 3:35 now.
The Mill Race Marathon is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.
“That’s like the Olympics of running, and I want to qualify for that,” Salem said. “I definitely have a little bit of work to do for sure, but I’m not daunted.”
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Registration is $95 for the Mill Race Marathon, $80 for the half marathon and $30 for the 5K through Sept. 26. The prices increase to $110, $95 and $35 at packet pickup Sept. 27 and 28. The races are Sept. 28.
To register, or for more information about the events, visit millracemarathon.com
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