Weeks before the Indy marathon, my lungs had other plans. A breathing test said I was fine when I wasn't, and one word on an X-ray report kept me up all night. This is the story of the weeks leading into race day, why I've always worried about my lungs first and my legs second, and why I'm still going into Saturday feeling confident.

Hi, I’m Katie. Welcome to Mission Breathe Again. I was six the first time I ran a 5K. I wanted to do it the way some kids want to ride the biggest rollercoaster or have the whole birthday cake to themselves. Nobody suggested it, and it had nothing to do with my lungs. I just wanted to run. That same year, I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that fills the lungs with thick mucus. Over the years it’s meant hospital stays, daily treatments, and a lot of plann