Mission woman finishes Boston Marathon, then chemo treatment

Kelly Morken. After finishing the Boston Marathon. Without hair. Because SHE WAS ON CHEMO.

Blizzard jogger, you’ve got company.

Last Monday Mission resident Kelly Morken crossed the finish line of her first Boston Marathon.

Three days later, she got her final round of chemotherapy.

You read that right: Morken was in the middle of chemo treatments. And training for one of the most competitive endurance races in the county.

I’m trying to think of the words to properly convey how ridiculously impressive that is. And I’m failing.

Anyway, Morken had already registered for the Boston race when doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer in November (she qualified by running a sub 3:30 Kansas City Marathon in 2009). Not being one to shy away from a challenge — and figuring it would give her something to focus on other than being sick — she decided to stick with her training plan.

“I was definitely a little more tired that I had been training for other marathons,” she said. “And my nails were sore. Chemo has some weird side effects.”

Finding the energy to get out an train amid the fatigue brought on by the cancer drugs was hard enough. But convincing her doctor she wasn’t out of her mind was next to impossible.

“I guess the doctor was happy I was exercising, but he was mad at how far I was going,” she said. “If I told him I was going for a six mile run, he’d want me to do three. He always wanted me to do half, and he kept telling me it was okay to quit.”

But quitting, Morken said, might have been harder than pushing through her training schedule.

“I think I needed to do it to stay sane,” she said.

Morken said doctors tell her chances of complete recovery are very high.

She finished the Boston Marathon in 3:453:50.