BALTIMORE, Md. — Doug Miller did his first triathlon ten years ago and his first half Ironman two years ago.
He has never done something like this.
"Being able to raise a ton of money for a cause, for families that really need the help, are really in crisis, I think that will be an even bigger sense of accomplishment," he said.
The 52-year-old from Finksburg, Md. is competing in five half Ironman triathlons and one full Ironman triathlon between May 31 and October 17 - that’s almost 500 miles of swimming, biking and running - to raise money for childhood cancer research through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
He’s doing it during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think it’s even more important now to be raising money for a cause like this because the kids with cancer, they still need their treatments," said Miller.
He signed up for the races before the COVID-19 crisis. A couple have since been canceled. He’s staying the course.
"Even if the races were canceled I was still going to go ahead and do the races on my own," he said. "The support has been fantastic. The support, the encouragement because it’s a lot of training. You are spending 4-6 hours on the bike on the weekends, running 15-20 miles on the weekends as well. It’s been a little hard with all the pools being closed."
MIller’s inspiration comes from his oldest daughter, Mackenzie. She was born in 1998 with a precancerous birthmark and underwent several procedures to make sure she remained cancer free.
"Putting your kid under for surgery is just scary as all get-out," he said. "That always got us thinking, 'What about families that were less fortunate than we were or had children that had more serious conditions?'"
Over the next few months 8.4 miles of swimming, 392 miles of biking, 91.7 miles of running and his goal of raising $50,000 are going to help those kids.
For more information about Doug's journey and how do donate click here.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
