Wien raised $7,648.50 the second highest contribution of the over 400 participants.
Because of Kasey's illness, Wien joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training and ran 13.1 miles across the city of New Orleans in two hours and 15 minutes.
The race was difficult for Wien, but she said she did not let herself stop. Inspired by her little sister's fight for life, she finished the entire race.
"At mile 10, when my legs started screaming at me to stop, I reminded them that we are doing this for those who can't run themselves, who can't even get out of bed or who don't have the strength to go down the stairs to check their mail," Wien wrote on her charity web site. "I could not would not let them down."
Prior to training for the race, Wien said she had never consistently run for more than three or four miles at a time. Because she is a member of Team in Training's Long Island chapter, the organization provided her with a coach, a training schedule and information about injury prevention and nutrition.
Starting with just three and four miles at a time, Wien gradually built up her endurance over a period of three months, but never ran more than 10 miles before the big race, she said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
For the Mardi Gras half marathon, Team in Training provided airfare, hotel accommodations and uniforms to athletes who raised the minimum donation of $3,300.
Wein's parents and sister traveled to New Orleans to support her in the race part of the Rock n' Roll Marathon series, which has dozens of similar events across the country. While over 15,000 runners filled the city streets, live bands played at intervals along the course route and Sister Hazel topped off the race at the finish line.
Among the masses, the Team in Training runners wore purple uniforms decorated with the names and pictures of loved ones affected by blood cancers.
"Along the whole race, people were cheering us on," Wien said. "As we passed, people would run up behind me and say, God bless Kasey and God bless everything you are doing.' It just made the run so much easier."
Wien added that she was not trying to beat anyone to the finish line. Instead, her main goal was going the entire 13.1 miles without stopping to walk.
"One of the speakers the night before told us that [because] we train so hard for this day that we shouldn't try to make it end as soon as possible," she said. "He told us to enjoy the day and that the time didn't really matter, and I took that to heart. I wasn't going all out, I was going slowly and enjoying it."
Currently, Wien has received close to 150 donations for her charity run mostly from the Dartmouth community.
One of Wien's more unconventional fundraising tactics included a 20-person Super Bowl pool that raised nearly $200. Although cash prizes were offered, the participants in the pool chose to donate most of the winnings back to Wien's cause.
Wien plans to participate in another Team in Training event in the future, she said and Kasey hopes to join her someday.
Team in Training is a charity endurance training program that raises money for blood cancer research and patient services. Operating out of numerous branches across the country, the organization's 420,000 participants have raised over $1 billion to support the fight against the fatal disease. The organization sponsors various endurance charity events, from marathons to 100-mile bike rides.
