The special playlists powering Philadelphia Marathon runners
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Caitlyn Kunisch and Daniel Romero are running with a purpose. Photos: Courtesy of Caitlyn Kunisch and Daniel Romero
Running teammates Daniel Romero and Caitlyn Kunisch have a special boost to push through fatigue during this weekend's Philadelphia Marathon:
- Music playlists inspired by their own or loved ones' cancer battles.
Why it matters: The runners have never met but are bonded by a common cause: They're paying homage to family members who battled a disease that's a worldwide leading cause of death.
Driving the news: Romero and Kunisch are part of a team running the lung-sapping 26.2-mile jaunt Sunday for the Philadelphia-based American Association for Cancer Research.
- The group has raised about $500,000 for the organization.
The big picture: They're part of what's expected to be Philadelphia's largest-ever marathon weekend, with 37,000 registered participants.
Context: Romero, a 38-year-old hospitality worker from the Bay Area, is in remission after being diagnosed with glioma, a brain cancer, in 2022. His father is living with colorectal cancer.
- Kunisch, a 23-year-old kinesiology student from New Jersey, lost her grandparents and Uncle Kenny to cancer.
The intrigue: Romero and Kunisch tell Axios they've created motivational playlists for the race full of songs with special meaning or that remind them of relatives.
- For Romero: It wouldn't be a true survivor playlist without "Eye of the Tiger."
- Kunisch says The Beatles' "Let It Be," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver are among the songs that remind her of lost loved ones.
Zoom in: Romero says his type of cancer is likely to recur. But he shared stories of other glioma survivors — and his late grandmother's inspiring tale — as case studies in optimism.
- She was given little hope of living after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her 50s. She received the news around the same year a massive earthquake rocked California in 1989.
- The disaster caused many doctor appointment cancellations, opening the schedule of a surgeon who performed a life-saving procedure on Romero's grandmother. She lived into her 80s.
"That has always been the outlook I want to take," Romero says.
When her pace slows and pulse quickens during the race, Kunisch will remember Uncle Kenny's enduring words — lyrics of a plainspoken poet.
- "Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot."