Mother Runs Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon in Memory of Her Daughter

Cindy Peno (right) with Karen Caffey, both running as St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's "Heroes" at last year's Humana Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Half Marathon.

The interview is barely past the courtesy introductory stage when Cindy Peno wishes to make one thing clear.

“I am not a runner,” says the 56-year-old director of a Baton Rouge, La., preschool. “I crawl.”

Peno is as Cajun as jambalaya and Bourbon Street. She’s blunt, sassy and funnier than most comedy club acts. She’s 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds.

“I have a philosophy,” Peno says. “If you want to eat it, eat it.”

Then again, if you lost a daughter two decades ago to a brain tumor—a daughter with beautiful curly brown hair who was already planning for college by taking the ACT, played the piano and loved babysitting—your perspective on life might be a bit jaded too.

“The good Lord took my daughter at 13,” Peno says. “All bets are off. I got very cynical.”

Peno will be in one of the last corrals Sunday morning in the Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon. It’ll be a repeat performance for Peno, who made her half marathon debut at last year’s race, stopping at mile markers for selfies and finishing in 3 hours, 38 minutes, 9 seconds.

The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., is dedicated to children suffering from catastrophic diseases. Founded by the late comedian Danny Thomas, St. Jude covers virtually all costs for patients and their families, including travel to Memphis, housing and hospital care. St. Jude is also the official featured charity of the race and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series.

When Peno’s daughter, Jill, was diagnosed with a brain tumor on Aug. 5, 1993, a doctor in Baton Rouge told them that with no treatment, Jill had six weeks to live. Five days later, the family drove to the St. Jude hospital in Memphis where Jill spent the next six weeks undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

The hope was the drugs could shrink the tumor small enough that it could be removed. But the tumor was located on Jill’s brain making it difficult to be eradicated.

On May 5, 1994, exactly nine months after the initial diagnoses, Jill passed away.

“We got nine precious months with Jill that we wouldn’t have had if we stayed here [in Baton Rouge],” Peno says of the care given by doctors and nurses at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “They were the only ones offering us anything and we got nine months.”

During those nine months, Peno met Karen Caffey, who also lived in Baton Rouge and whose infant son, Nicholas, was also battling a brain tumor. Peno counseled Caffey and they’ve been friends ever since. Nicholas died just shy of 11 months.

Upon learning that St. Jude was the official charity of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series, Peno and Caffey decided three months before last year’s race that they had to line up for the 13.1-miler.

Peno’s exercise routine up until then? “None,” she says. “From the refrigerator to the couch and back.”

She scanned e-mails about a St. Jude Heroes training program and decided she could do it. Her training consisted of walking on a treadmill in an air-conditioned room at home. She started walking at 22 minutes per mile, eventually knocking it down to 14 minutes. Her longest prerace workout consisted of 5 miles.

“I wasn’t very dedicated,” she says, poking fun at herself. “I said, ‘I need my knees.’”

Come race day, she stuffed a packet of six peanut-butter cookies inside her yoga pants, cell phone in her sports bra and with Caffey as her partner in crime, took off. As a St. Jude Hero, Peno raised $1,800 for the cause. She’s raised another $3,200 this year.

Silk screened on the back of Peno’s singlet was a picture of Jill. Runners and walkers filled her with encouragement. “I’m proud of you for doing this…I’m so sorry for your loss…You go, girl!”

The first three miles were a breeze. By mile 5, though, reality set in. Peno told herself, “You are not giving up. You’ve got people at the other end, waiting for you. Jill and Nicholas, if they could fight, you can do this.”

“My body felt like it was wasted and aching in places I didn’t even know I had,” Peno describes of the last few miles.

Like a cruel joke, there was a bridge to ascend and descend late in the race.

You might stop for selfies at nearly every mile marker, hit the portable toilets when nature calls and indulge in a cookie on your maiden half marathon, but come the finishing stretch, you jog it in. Peno and Caffey held hands, thrusting them skyward upon crossing the timing mat.

“We both fell apart crying,” Peno says.

Peno has trained less for this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon.

“Life gets in the way,” she says. “I’m lazier, and I’m a whole year older. What the hell? I can do this again.”

She’ll laugh along the way, munching on her peanut-butter crackers, celebrating with the other walkers, including Caffey, and soaking up New Orleans’ party scene. And she’ll be tugged to the finish by the memory of her smiling 13-year-old daughter.

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