FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

DULUTH-For many Northland runners finishing Grandma's Marathon is the big goal at the end of a long stretch of training.

But for one competitor coming down the North Shore on Saturday it's just #10 in a list of 52 this year!
 
She's being referred to as the "Marathon Goddess" but Julie Weiss says the title is also meant to be a symbol for what pushes every racer.

In Weiss's case it was her father's illness - Pancreatic Cancer - that sent her on a mission with "Team Hope".
 
A ten minute warm-up on the Lake Walk is all Weiss says she needs before her 236th mile of racing.
 
"My plan is to run marathon number ten of 52. And my goal is to raise one million dollars for the Pancreatic Cancer Network,” Weiss said.

The 42-year-old from Santa Monica, California says that feat of organization matches the athleticism.
 
"I'm also working 9–5. I have a dog. I have a fiancé,” Weiss said.
 
"Basically she says she's not a runner anymore,” David Levine, Weiss’s fiancé, said. “She just does marathons."

"She running in water. She's stretching more. She's stretching and doing foam roller on the airplane in the aisle,” Levine said.
 
"Next week I go to Kona,” Weiss said. “There is one week when I am running three marathons."

The wild goal was inspired by her father - a man, she says, with a wish to see his daughter make it into the Boston Marathon.

Pancreatic cancer, however, adding urgency.
 
"When I found out he was diagnosed I was just devastated,” Weiss said.

“I kept running though. He said 'Keep running, keep training. Don't stop. Don't do anything different on account of me. Just keep going and we'll go to Boston’,” Weiss said.

“And I said, ‘Just hang in there’,” Weiss said. “Unfortunately he passed away one week before I qualified."
 
"She felt a little helpless,” Levine said. “I meet a lot of these people that really do feel helpless with this form of cancer because, she said, her father died in like four weeks. There was nothing for anybody to do."

"She just had this idea that popped into her head and she loved that idea and she's been following through ever since,” Levine said.

Connecting with “Team Hope”, Weiss has already raised more than $100,000 for cancer research. And if she reaches her $1 million goal, she says she still will not stop until someone finds a cure.

To follow Julie's Journey, visit her website www.marathongoddess.com to track how she's doing. She also has a donation link to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.