Passavant Hospital Foundation's 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon Fundraising Team raised $3,600 of their $5,000 Goal to support Passavant Hospital Foundation's Cancer Care Fund!
THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZINGTEAM FORALL TH HARD WORK AND SUPPORT! AND THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO DONATED! 
To Support the Foundation’s 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon Team and help reach their goal of $5,000
Runner Spotlights
Meet Eric McIntosh - Vice President of Human Resources for UPMC Passavant
Eric will be completing the 5K Race this year for the 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon and has been running for 7 years. While traveling, Eric has had the opportunity to run in Ireland, Italy, Chin, Kazakhstan, and Croatia. However, his favorite place to run is right here in the US! He loves to run any chance he gets to visit a new place and see the sights, especially when he has limited time to site see! While training for his 5Ks, his biggest motivator is eating. Eric shared “I choose to run for the 2022 Passavant Hospital Foundation Pittsburgh Marathon Team to show my appreciation for all the support the Foundation gives to UPMC Passavant Employees and Community.” Lastly, Eric gave advice for someone who may just be starting out as a runner or may be in training currently: “Stick with it. It takes a few weeks to form a habit but running makes me feel better physically and mentally and helps me prepare for my day.”
Meet Kathrine McConnell – Quality Nurse Coordinator at UPMC Passavant
Katherine has chosen to be a part of Passavant Hospital Foundation’s 2022 Marathon Team to help support the Foundation’s mission and to continue supporting UPMC Passavant Staff and Patients. Since 2016, Katherine has been running in the Pittsburgh Marathon and will be completing the half marathon this year. Other races Katherine have completed are a half marathon in Buffalo Creek, EQT 10 Miler and running in the Moraine Duathlon (Mighty Moraine Man.) Runner’s high is her motivation, the feeling and endorphins allowing stress to release, along with music, scenery, and tracking miles via a Garmin. Katherine’s favorite place to train is at North Park. When Katherine is not running or training you will find her doing yoga, biking, completing word searches, watching a few TV series, searching for new crockpot dinner recipes, playing board games with her family, and walking her labradoodle puppy. Katherine also knows every Disney Princess movie song and can sing them word for word. We asked Katherine what advice she may give to a new runner, and she shared “Just enjoy it and take your time, everyone runs at their own pace, don’t try to push harder otherwise you may hurt yourself. It takes time, but you will achieve your goal in time. Use training plans such as Hal Higdon to guide and help you increase your miles and distance. And have the right fit for your running shoes.”
Meet Rene Whiteman and Joey Kubas
Joey Kubas will be entering his first Toddler Trot for the 2022 Pittsburgh Marathon and Rene will be participating in the Pittsburgh Marathon for her Sixth Year completing the Marathon Relay and Full Marathon this year. Rene has been an avid runner for several years completing, full marathons, half marathons, 5Ks, the Steel Challenge, EQT and several triathlons. Joey’s first race was the Fly-By 5K which he completed in his stroller pushed by his daddy, and he was so exhausted he fell asleep halfway through! Rene’s motivation during training is good music and running with friend, while Joey’s motivation is running with good snacks. Their favorite place to run is Downtown Pittsburgh, where they run and train with Fleet Fett Running Group. Running for the Foundation is something Rene is has done for about five years and is extremely excited to teach Joey about how amazing it is to give back to the community. One of Rene’s running goals are to run for the Boston Marathon. She completed the New York City Marathon in 2016 and would love to experience the Boston Marathon. We asked Rene what advice she would give a new runner and she shared “Start our with small distances, don’t try to do too much and make sure you enjoy it. It isn’t always about being the fasted or coming in 1st, it’s about the accomplishment.”
Meet Emily Shimko – Assistant Professor, Health Sciences and Faculty Athletic Representative at La Roche University
Emily Shimko has been participating in the Pittsburgh Marathon since 2009. She has completed the half marathon and relay races. This year, will be her first year tackling the full marathon! Not only has Emily run here in Pittsburgh, she has completed races down in Disney World! Her motivation for training is the cup of coffee waiting for her at the end of her race, and of course her running friends. She loves to run along the trails by the river in Pittsburgh and see the city as she runs. Emily has chosen to run and support the Foundation for several reasons. One reason being, UPMC Passavant and Passavant Hospital Foundation has held a special place in her heart from when there was a Remembrance Ceremony after her grandfather passed away in 2015. Another reason being, Emily is the Co-Chair for the Foundation’s Annual 4k and 8K Run/Walk and Mission Support Committee. “It is great for me to able to help raise funds and then help make decisions on how we distribute them. I get to be a part of the full circle.” When Emily is not running, teaching at La Roche or volunteering for the Foundation she has been trying to learn Italian! If she could run anywhere in the world, she would choose Greece to run along the original marathon course.