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Inspiration
As a result of his professional relationship with Hazlewood, which dates back more than 30 years, Gitlin had known Murat since she was a child. She was his patient before she was his partner.
"She joined us about six years or so before she passed away," Gitlin said. "I don't remember the exact date, I think it was 2005.
"And you know, of course, she's Amy's daughter, and Amy has worked for us for a long time ... (so) when Angie decided to become a dentist, it was really cool. And when she decided to join us in practice, it was great."
Gitlin first considered running another marathon back in early 2011. He had run the Sunburst Marathon about 28 years earlier, at the age of 32. He trained, but not much, and finished in a little over four hours. He would be 60 soon, and he wondered if he could do it again.
"I hadn't run any kind of distance like that since then, and I didn't have any desire to," he said. "About a year to a year and a half ago, though, I started to wonder if I have any of these left in me."
He started training, he said, but soon gave up. "Quite honestly. I was too lazy to do it," he said.
About the same time, Murat, who had been getting better, became sick again.
"She got diagnosed in January 2011 ... and she was doing very well," her mother said. "They got all the cancer and she went back to work. Then one day she got really confused. We thought she was dehydrated from the chemotherapy, but it turned out the cancer had gone to her brain."
It was all the motivation Gitlin needed.
"I was out on a run over Labor Day 2011 and at this point Angie was pretty sick ... and the thought occurred to me that if I was really going to run a marathon I needed some incentive to do it, and I knew about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training ... so that's kind of how the idea started," Gitlin said.
"He said, 'I'm gonna be 60, and I need some inspiration to go through those horrendous workouts, so I'm going to use Angie as my inspiration,'" Hazlewood recalled.
A few weeks later, Murat died. She was 37.
"She was just very warm and funny and vivacious," Gitlin recalled, "and you know she was just a terrific person."
"She loved music," her mother said. "And she was just a really smart and really fun person, and she really had a lot friends."
Gitlin contacted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team soon after. But it wasn't until March that he learned that he had been accepted as a member of the society's Team in Training for the marathon, guaranteeing him a spot in the race.
He started training.
"I started in June, and every week I worked along a program they (the Team in Training) laid out," he said. "And at the end of it, I did two 20-mile runs, so I felt like I was pretty much prepared. I really felt like I was pretty much ready to go.
"And then the hurricane happened."
Burying the past
As a result of his professional relationship with Hazlewood, which dates back more than 30 years, Gitlin had known Murat since she was a child. She was his patient before she was his partner.
"She joined us about six years or so before she passed away," Gitlin said. "I don't remember the exact date, I think it was 2005.
"And you know, of course, she's Amy's daughter, and Amy has worked for us for a long time ... (so) when Angie decided to become a dentist, it was really cool. And when she decided to join us in practice, it was great."
Gitlin first considered running another marathon back in early 2011. He had run the Sunburst Marathon about 28 years earlier, at the age of 32. He trained, but not much, and finished in a little over four hours. He would be 60 soon, and he wondered if he could do it again.
"I hadn't run any kind of distance like that since then, and I didn't have any desire to," he said. "About a year to a year and a half ago, though, I started to wonder if I have any of these left in me."
He started training, he said, but soon gave up. "Quite honestly. I was too lazy to do it," he said.
About the same time, Murat, who had been getting better, became sick again.
"She got diagnosed in January 2011 ... and she was doing very well," her mother said. "They got all the cancer and she went back to work. Then one day she got really confused. We thought she was dehydrated from the chemotherapy, but it turned out the cancer had gone to her brain."
It was all the motivation Gitlin needed.
"I was out on a run over Labor Day 2011 and at this point Angie was pretty sick ... and the thought occurred to me that if I was really going to run a marathon I needed some incentive to do it, and I knew about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training ... so that's kind of how the idea started," Gitlin said.
"He said, 'I'm gonna be 60, and I need some inspiration to go through those horrendous workouts, so I'm going to use Angie as my inspiration,'" Hazlewood recalled.
A few weeks later, Murat died. She was 37.
"She was just very warm and funny and vivacious," Gitlin recalled, "and you know she was just a terrific person."
"She loved music," her mother said. "And she was just a really smart and really fun person, and she really had a lot friends."
Gitlin contacted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team soon after. But it wasn't until March that he learned that he had been accepted as a member of the society's Team in Training for the marathon, guaranteeing him a spot in the race.
He started training.
"I started in June, and every week I worked along a program they (the Team in Training) laid out," he said. "And at the end of it, I did two 20-mile runs, so I felt like I was pretty much prepared. I really felt like I was pretty much ready to go.
"And then the hurricane happened."
Burying the past