Inspired by her husband Robert's first marathon after he had Hodgkin's disease, Renee DeVinck finishes her own first one here, at the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, in June, 1998. She has completed seven marathons in less than four years.

That year, her husband, Robert, in remission from Hodgkin's disease, hooked up with the Leukemia Society's Team in Training program and fast-walked the Honolulu Marathon.

"It was really touching," Renee says, getting teary just recalling the event, "because not only he did it, but other families, people who lost children, who had children fighting it. There's a whole emotional attachment to it."

Together they decided to train for the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in 1998. But Robert learned his nagging hip, damaged by chemotherapy, needed to be replaced. He had surgery; Renee kept on training. And training. And training some more.

In less than four years, Renee, now 47, has completed seven marathons. Her ongoing goal: one or two a year.

Renee is among a group of folks who might be called altruistic fitness enthusiasts: They find ways to make their exercise benefit others as well. Technically it's perhaps more of a symbiotic relationship, since pure fitness altruism, I suppose, would be exercising to help others even if one didn't reap any benefits.

But such benefits come nonetheless, and charity events are so plentiful it's possible to design one's entire exercise plan around them. To make such ambitions easier, today we're starting an ongoing list of "altruistic fitness" events and training programs on our On Fitness Web page, www.seattletimes.com/onfitness/ (click on "Altruist Fitness" in the right column). Organizers can fill out forms to add their events; participants can find details on joining them.

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These events can be one-time workouts at clubs or local, national or even international annual affairs. Some target specific nonprofit groups, some rotate donation recipients. Money is raised via entry fees, donated instructor salaries, club matching funds, corporate contributions or participant fundraising.

For many, meeting a fundraising minimum can be more challenging than the activity itself. Renee's marathons have required from $2,500 to $6,000, for which she also receives airfare to the event, hotel and parties before and after. Renee likes that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society keeps overhead low, ensuring that more than 75 percent of money raised goes to the organization. She usually fundraises for one marathon a year and pays for the other herself, to not press donors who, of course, become a key part of the altruistic effort.

Renee says she was in average shape when she began following the Team in Training program, which is designed to get someone ready to walk or run a marathon in about four months. "If you'd told me four years ago that I'd have finished seven marathons by now, I'd have told you you were crazy," she says.

It wasn't always easy. After her first 12-mile day, "I got on my cell phone to Robert after training, and it hurt so bad, I was crying. I thought, 'There's no way I'm ever gonna be able to do it.' But he'd been through it, and he said, 'Just keep training.' "

She and training partner Karen Berg of Redmond also had to persevere in the race itself, especially the last six of those 26 miles. "We'd been walking a mile in about 15 minutes, so we kept saying, 'We can do this another 15 minutes,' and got through it one mile at a time. We were pretty amazed with ourselves."

Six months later they finished the Honolulu marathon. Then came Anchorage and Honolulu again in '99, Dublin in 2000 and, this year, Maui and Victoria, where they began to intersperse a little running with their walking and finished in 6 hours, 34 minutes.

At each event and through the training, they're inspired by the people around them: survivors, those with cancer, families who've lost children or have children with the disease.

"For me it's a win-win thing," Renee says. "I'm doing something volunteer-wise that's really important to me. And it also keeps me training and getting out there and moving." She highly recommends it.

"If I can do it, anybody can do it."

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine.

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