Losing weight gives woman will to run Chase race

With the advice of her doctors, she felt it was the best option because she couldn't take diet pills with her high blood pressure. Then, while walking on a treadmill during her rehabilitation, she dared another dream.

"I was feeling so good, I thought 'I wonder if I can run?'

"I did it for a minute. Then I did it again. One minute, two minutes ... a little more, and that's how it started. The running got the rest of the weight off."

Still sensitive about where she tips the scales � she politely declines to talk numbers � she focuses instead how much her life has changed for the better.

"I can remember when we were kids," she said, reminded of her older brother, a Buffalo police officer, and her sisters, who were athletes involved with softball and bicycling, "I often felt like the odd man out in things.

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