Katie Panunzio inspired to “tri” for others

Hi Everyone! My name is Katie and I live in Northern New York (close to Canada)! I am blessed to live close to my family, have an incredible group of friends all around the world and work for a company that supports not just your career goals, but personal goals too.

When I moved back to my hometown area, a good friend inspired me and I completed my first sprint triathlon in 2014.  I got the bug and have now completed a few more sprint triathlons since.  Now,  I embark on a “stretch goal” of completing 70.3 Ironman Florida in April, 2016.  However, this race is more than just completing the miles and being able to call myself a half Ironman Finisher.  I am racing for two dear friends of mine who inspire, support and have taught me so much about life and they are the reason I’ll be racing on Team LCFFYW! One of these friends was diagnosed last December with stage 4 lung cancer.  She is a second mom to me and as she continues to fight, her amazing, generous spirit is very much in tact. My second dear friend, unfortunately loss her battle to ovarian cancer, but she always motivated and inspired me to do good.  She would be thrilled to hear that I will be racing on behalf of LCFFYW.  As I move into training for this race, I will keep these amazing women and LCFFYW as the reason I train.  I look to build knowledge around lung cancer and hope to raise donations and awareness for LCFFYW.  Thank you for letting me be a part of your team!