The coast-to-coast fundraising marathon that passed through Iowa earlier this month is nearing the finish line and more Iowans are joining the effort. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll take part in one mile of the relay run tomorrow (Wednesday) morning as it winds through the nation’s capitol. “We’re going to meet at the Washington Monument at 6 o’clock,” Grassley says. “It’s for raising money for cancer. It’s bringing attention to a group coming across the country.”

Grassley says he usually runs three miles a day, four days a week, so he may hardly break a sweat on this short jaunt, yet he’s pleased to get the opportunity. “An Iowan who invited me is Steve Falck,” Grassley says. “He is a former state legislator from up in northeast Iowa. It’s part of Coast to Coast for Cancer.”

The Million Dollar Marathon is going four-thousand miles across the U-S and it’s being run by 160 cancer survivors who are each running a 26-point-two-mile leg. Grassley, who will turn 80 in September, says he’ll have his wife, Barbara, on his mind during tomorrow’s trek.  Grassley says, “I’ll be there because I run but I’ll be there also because my wife is a 25 or 26-year survivor of breast cancer.”

The senator takes part in a number of cancer fundraisers each year, including the Race For The Cure, held in Des Moines each October. Learn more about the run and make a contribution to the effort at www.aboveandbeyondcancer.org.

(Radio Iowa)