Run with Mary 2025

In June of 2022, Mary Morrison Gillam, left this world in the midst of a fierce struggle with pancreatic cancer (her beast) which began five years prior. She was 43, a wife, a mother of three young children, a daughter, a sister, a dear friend to countless others, and a runner. Daily she strode the back roads of her home Camden County with her blonde ponytail bouncing and her long legs churning mile after mile. She carried a broad smile and an energetic wave to the many who greeted her along the way. She also carried her beast.

Before her passing, she was intent that no one make reference to her “losing a long battle to cancer,” because, in her words “It was never a fair fight. If it had been, I would have won.”

The Run With Mary 5k has raised more than $77,000 for pancreatic cancer research.

Please join us on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 10 a.m. at the Museum of the Albemarle Lawn in Elizabeth City, NC. to Honor Mary Morrison Gillam and Run with Mary. Registration coming soon. Please visit us at www.runwithmary.org for more information.

The Run with Mary proceeds will go to cancer research at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where Mary received such tender, extraordinary care. They battled the beast with Mary toe to toe. Cancer research can destroy this scourge. 

We also have some exciting news to share this year. Mary's daughter, Liza, has been accepted to attend The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, class of 2029! GO HEELS!

Please come and run with Mary’s Spirit. She will be here! Let’s make it a fair fight for all those who yet struggle. Then Mary will have won her greatest race. And so will you.