E!: Tell us about running for your mom and how you are carrying on her legacy with this foundation, and just every day in general.
TC: Even the people who never even met my mom, she loved. She loved this show. She loved all the diehard fans and she made so many friends with people she didn’t meet, but would have these nice conversations just in the DM’s. My mom just loved meeting and talking with people. So many people have reached out to tell me that my mom had such an impact on them and talk about how she helped them get through a bad day. Even if she never even met a person, she wanted to help and be kind because it was just the right thing to do. One person can do a lot for a lot of people.
We are wearing jerseys with the number 55 because she was 55 years old. That’s so young. Life is so fragile. I just wanted to put that number on there as a reminder that we need to live our life and live it fully. That number is a reminder to be in the moment.
E! How does that kind of play into preparing for the marathon? It’s such a multifaceted thing with athletic, emotional, and charitable aspects. How do you prepare?
TC: Having this charity behind us now and using that as our motivation is cool. I’ve got six guys running with me. You know, all the hometown homies. There’s one guy Phil, who just lost his mother. He’s been my trainer since I was seven. He’s been a big brother to me. He’s been one of my mom’s best friends. So, when my mom passed, it was hard on him and then just this past year his mom passed. For us to to use this marathon to put our minds into something totally pulls us out of a dark place. Instead of dwelling in the dark, you can find some light through a marathon and that’s why I love it.
To me, it’s one of my favorite days of the year because there’s just so much unconditional love between strangers. It’s just everyone supporting people who they don’t even know and you don’t find that often. I love that everyone is just supporting everybody.