Thursday, March 29, 2007

Justin's Cousins Run Lewiston Race ... in Iraq

Article Link

If things had gone according to schedule, sisters Lacy and Morgan Hennessy would be home by now, and looking forward to running in another Fool's Five road race on Sunday.

Those plans have been changed.

They'll be in Iraq, where they have been stationed with the Minnesota National Guard now for close to a year.

Their thoughts, however, will be in Lewiston, their hometown and site of the 29th running of the Fool's Five.

"We got extended; hopefully we'll be home in August,'' said Morgan. "We've always looked forward to running that race.''

This year, especially. Proceeds from the race, now in its 29th year, go to the cancer research at the Eagles Cancer Telethon and also to the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation.

And cancer has really hit home; their 27-year-old cousin, Justin Kukowski of Chaska, died March 12 of brain cancer.

"We weren't that close to him growing up but recently we became real close,'' said Lacy, talking last week via a videoconference from National Guard headquarters in Winona. "Both of us were going to school at the University (of Minnesota) and we lived three houses from Justin.

"He was really a neat guy, he had so many friends. It would have been nice to run in his honor at the race.''

Instead, they have raised over $2,000 in pledges at their base, all for the Fool's Five.

"And we expect to get more,'' said Morgan.

The sisters are stationed at Camp Anaconda, a base housing over 20,000 soldiers just north of Baghdad. On Saturday, along with hundreds of other soldiers, they'll be running in the Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure, a race which has become very popular in the United States as well.

Proceeds go to breast cancer research.

Both Hennessys ran cross country and track in high school.

Lacy, 23, graduated from Lewiston-Altura in 2002. Morgan, 21, graduated from St. Charles in 2004. Lacy first went to school at Truman State in Missouri and then transferred to Minnesota, where she joined the National Guard. Morgan went to Minnesota and also joined the Guard.

In Iraq, Lacy is a mail clerk and Morgan works in the administrative department.

"Being stationed together really helps,'' said Lacy. "I have someone I can always talk to.''

They are daughters of Mike and Karen Hennessy of Lewiston.

Donations to the Fool's Five for Lacy and Morgan Hennessy can be sent to Karen Hennessy, 620 East Main Street, Lewiston, Minn., 55952.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For the reason that the admin of this site is working, no hesitation very quickly it
will be famous, due to its feature contents.

My site: binary options trading