Couple who met at 2018 Pittsburgh marathon takes to course after wife’s cancer treatment

By Ava Rash

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    PITTSBURGH (WTAE) — Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Ava Rash is on Liberty Avenue for the start of the Pittsburgh Marathon.

That’s where we met Jennifer and Brian Woodyard, a couple who met at the marathon in 2018.

Brian, who participates in the handcycle division, said the pair met when he arrived late to the marathon, not sure who he would be paired with. That’s when Brian met Jennifer.

According to Brian, the pair talked every mile of the race and would later get married.

In 2023, things changed for the now-married couple.

Jennifer told us she was diagnosed with Stage 4 bile duct cancer.

“We weren’t sure what was going to happen from there but nine, ten months later, here we are at the marathon again just showing anything you put your mind to you can do,” Jennifer said.

Jennifer said she is now down with her chemotherapy treatments and her tumors are shrinking.

Brian showed off his version of a Pittsburgh Marathon shirt. The shirt features the logo of the marathon with “Jen’s Treatment Marathon.” The couple tells us the shirt was worn every time Jennifer went for treatment.

“We call this our anniversary marathon, but this year we call this our celebration of life marathon,” Brian Woodyard said.

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