Gwen Dardant Guillotte of New Iberia is taking her health seriously and doing so with a good cause in mind.

Guillotte has joined Teams in Training, an endurance program for runners, walkers, cyclist and triathletes hoping to participate in the Country Music Half-Marathon in Nashville, Tenn. The half-marathon will be held on April 28 to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“It all started because I wanted to loose baby weight, but I got into it more once I realized it’s for a good cause,” she said.

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Since Jan. 24, Guillotte said that she has been running through the City Park and down Main Street in preparation for the race. The training program provides a training schedule, coaches to guide them, and group runs every two weeks with other area participants. The organization also hosts events for runners such as shoe clinics where runners can find the best running shoe for their running needs.

“The coaches say how far to run and for how long,” said Guillotte. “A half-marathon is 13.1 miles which means you have to run at least 18 minute miles.”

Currently, Guillotte is running one mile in 10 minutes.

Although she knows that she wants to do the run, before she may officially enter, the Marathon stipulates that each runner raise at least $3,000 and at this point she said that she is far away from that goal.

“I’m pretty optimistic about getting enough money and that will go along way,” she said.

Coincidence or Fate?

Guillotte said she is leaning more toward the latter.

“Prior to my desire to enter the race, I talked to people at work about forming a running group just to stay healthy,” she said. “Once I found out about the race, other things started falling into place and I knew I just had to do it.”

Not long after she inquired about the race in Tennessee, Guillotte found out about a local 16-year-old boy named Andrew Dempsey who had been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Soon after, she discovered that Andrew’s father, David Dempsey, worked for the Schumacher Group, the same company as she does, and had moved to Louisiana from Nashville.

“All the pieces came together, I wanted run a marathon, I wanted to lose weight, and his dad works for the company I work for, at that point it all started making sense,” she said. “When I found out the race was in Nashville, I just thought that it was all a sign because there were way too many coincidences.”

To raise money Guillotte said she sent out letters to family and friends asking for donations. The Schumacher Group where she works also has a program where it picks up a different charity each month. To support Guillotte’s efforts, the month of February will be dedicated to helping her raise money to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Guillotte said that she has plans to propose free dress days to local high schools, and asking for corporate contributions.

According to the Society’s Web site, corporate contributions are tax deductible and any company that donates a minimum of $500 gets their logo on the back of the runner’s jersey.

Donations to support Guillotte’s efforts can be made at www.active.com/donate/tntla/tntlagguillo.

For more information about Andrew Dempsey including photos and journal excerpts, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewdempsey.