Christine Fischer watched over her husband, a professional runner Reed Fischerrun a lot of marathons.

“No knock on Reed, but his races never really inspired me to run marathons,” Christine, 30, says laughing alongside Reed in a recent interview with PEOPLE.

Then, during last year’s TCS New York City Marathon (NYCM), something changed. Christine is usually only at the races to watch Reed, 29, who completes the 26.2-mile course in about 2 hours and 15 minutes (he finished 10th overall in the 2022 race), before leaving with him for press conferences and recovery time. But in 2023, Reed dropped out around mile 14, meaning that for the first time, Christine was able to hang around and watch runners of all speeds cross the finish line.

“It was so inspiring to see them pull through,” she said. “That’s really what sparked my interest in marathon running. And I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I want to run! » »

Christine – an elite runner herself – is far from your average amateur jogger. But as a fifth-grade teacher in Boulder, Colorado, who was diagnosed with stage 4 oligometastatic breast cancer in early 2023, Christine said watching thousands of other people — with stories she never knew step – during last year’s marathon helped her see the challenges of running from a different perspective, with an eye toward “joy-centered” training.

On Sunday, November 3, she join 49 other educators selected by NYCM title sponsor Tata Consultancy Services to travel 26.2 miles across New York as part of TCS Team Teachers.

“When I’m in New York, I’ll be about two years post-diagnosis and treatment,” says Christine. “And now I’m considering planning my life ahead of me.”

Christine was diagnosed with breast cancer on January 10, 2023, after discovering a 3.5-centimeter lump in her breasts while putting on a sports bra for a run. By then, the cancer had spread to his spine and sacrum.

In a interview with people Last year, Christine said she felt a “loss of control” following her diagnosis.

The couple, who married in 2021, wanted to start a family. But after his diagnosis, future plans seemed to belong to someone else.

Christine started Googling her prospects – and they looked bleak. She read articles online that predicted she would only live one to three years longer, at most.

She quickly began chemotherapy, using painful cooling caps designed to cause hypothermia of her scalp to keep her hair in place throughout the process. She also continued to run, sometimes even only 800 meters.

Nearly two years later – now on a daily pill with a monthly injection of hormone therapy and bone-strengthening infusions every three months, as well as routine scans and blood tests – there is no evidence of cancer in his body, although with stage 4 patients, doctors avoid using the term “remission.”

And even though it’s impossible to know the future, the couple continues to plan for it.

Before beginning treatment, Christine froze her eggs, and with cancer treatment indefinitely making it impossible to safely have a child, the couple began looking for a surrogate.

They also started filling their schedule with epic adventures. In June, Christine and Reed traveled to Peru, where they hiked Machu Picchu during the winter solstice.

And this school year, Christine — who played varsity basketball — is coaching the fifth- through eighth-grade girls team at Boulder Country Day School.

Teaching 10- and 11-year-olds and coaching the middle school team gives them the opportunity “to try something new in a safe environment,” she says. “And maybe they fail and try again and eventually succeed – or they learn all the lessons they learned from those failures over time, and that’s just as important.”

And her students got to be part of Christine’s marathon story — pushing her own limits — when TCS and Reed dropped by her class last May with the surprise announcement that she had been selected to lead New York.

In the months that followed, Reed – who would cheer her along the way and “ready to give her a big sweaty hug and kiss” on November 3 – drew up a training program, coaching her through long runs and cycling. at his side.

Recalling that running during chemotherapy was “the greatest grace I ever gave myself,” Christine says she brings the same compassion to her marathon.

Her training is to “be proud of myself for where I am right now,” she says. “Because a year ago I wasn’t here, and two years ago I never would have thought that this could be a reality for me today. »

On race day, she wants to “be present in the moment and celebrate all the work we’ve done.”

That said, she has a big goal: she would like to qualify for the Boston Marathon, crossing New York in less than three hours and 25 minutes.

Running 26.2 miles through New York’s five boroughs will be an opportunity for her to take back control and “challenge my body and my mind in a way I’ve never done before” while “celebrating what my body can do.

“With every mile I go, I just want to recognize and celebrate where I am,” she says. “And it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work on my part, on my doctor’s part, and on my community’s part to raise me.”

“At the starting line, I’m going to be centered in this happy place,” Christine says. “Because two years ago, Google told me that I maybe he wouldn’t be on this planet right now. But not only am I here on this planet, I’m running a marathon. And I intend to stay on this planet for a long time. So when things get tough, it reminds me that I’ve been through tough things and I can continue to get through them too. It’s a victory lap.