Running in Memory of Marathoner Dad
Nancy and Lisa Haystrand
On November 6, when Nancy and Lisa Haystrand start running on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge alongside 47,000 other runners, they’ll be following in their father’s footsteps—literally.
Russell Haystrand, an avid runner and longtime member of NYRR who completed 26 marathons, including 13 New York City Marathons, died of colorectal cancer at age 55 on November 24, 2010. This year his daughters will be running in his honor and on behalf of the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation.
“With every step we take, we will remember his passion for running and for life,” writes Lisa, 27, of Hoboken, NJ, on her fundraising page on the Crowdrise platform. “He approached his 4½ year battle with colorectal cancer with the same determination and strength of mind and spirit that enabled him to run through exhaustion, pain and overwhelming fatigue to cross the finish line 26 times.”
The daughters recall their father as “the first guy out in the early morning hours dragging his friends out of bed to run countless miles. You could find him on any given weekend doing a race, sometimes two!”
“We are a running family,” says Nancy, 30, of Little Ferry, NJ, who is running her first marathon. “My mom is also a marathoner, and my sister and I started running races as kids with Dad. He was our inspiration.”
“Our dad always told us to run with a dream in our heart,” writes Lisa, who is running her third marathon and aspires to someday complete 26 of them, just like her dad. “We will be taking thousands of steps to get to that finish line and he will be in our hearts every single step of the way.”
“So many people loved our dad, so the fundraising was the easy part,” says Nancy. “He touched a lot of lives.”
