Hempstead, NY - Among the more than 43,000 runners who will participate in the 41^st annual ING New York City Marathon this Sunday (Nov. 7) are hundreds, and maybe thousands, who are running for a charity or cause-awareness. One of those runners is Hofstra University sophomore lacrosse player Jordan Fried.

Fried, a native of Chappaqua, New York and a graduate of Horace Greeley High School, will be competing in his first marathon and will be running as part of "Fred's Team", a group of dedicated runners of all abilities who participate in athletic events to raise funds for cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. For Fried, a childhood cancer survivor, the Marathon is more than a competition. It's personal.

Seventeen years ago, Fried was diagnosed with leukemia as a three year old and underwent chemotherapy and other treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. Two years later, he was cancer-free. Memorial Sloan-Kettering treats more children with cancer than any other institution in the world. Their physicians and scientists have pioneered therapeutic regimens that have sparked remarkable progress in treating infants, children, teenagers, and young adults with cancer. Something Fried has not forgotten.

Fried's tie-in to competitive running started in the seventh grade and continued through his years at Greeley High School, where he was a three-time all-league and all-county cross country selection during his four years. His passion for running is further proven by the approximately 10 NYC Marathons that he has watched, in person, on Manhattan's 1 ^st Avenue.

In April, 2009 and inspired by John Markiewicz, his freshman and junior varsity lacrosse coach at Greeley who ran in two NYC Marathons and is now his running coach,  Fried  made his decision to run in the 2010 New York City Marathon. In preparation, he has competed in several 10K, 15K and half-marathon races.

The life of a Division I lacrosse student-athlete is a busy one that consists of classes, a year-round training regimen, a "Fall-Ball" training period, and the Spring regular season. But Fried has been able to get in his running workouts and competitions around his lacrosse responsibilities. He would run six to eight miles a weekday, usually on a treadmill, and would get 10-20 miles of roadwork done on the weekends.

His Marathon training focus picked up following the Pride's involvement in the NCAA Championship tournament last May. His preparation included running in the Staten Island Half-Marathon this past September. While Fried has a goal of finishing in the low 3-hour timeframe, one of his goals is being achieved as part of Fred's Team.

Since its founding in 1995, Fred's Team, named in honor of running legend and co-founder of the New York City Marathon, Fred Lebow, has raised more than $38 million to benefit vital research at MSKCC. Fred's Team is the primary source of support for the Aubrey Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research, established in 1997 to benefit ongoing research for childhood cancers, including leukemia, neuroblastoma, brain tumors, and certain forms of sarcoma.

While being treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1991, Fred Lebow never stopped running. As he jogged down the hospital hallways, he was inspired by the hope he saw in the faces of the pediatric patients he passed and became determined to run to raise money for a cure. Lebow, who passed away from cancer in 1994, ran his last New York City Marathon in 1992, enlisting sponsor donations to support research at MSKCC. He also wrote to other marathoners and encouraged them to do the same. "Running the Marathon is the best way I know to fight this disease," he said.