DEADWOOD -Nolan Taylor knows finishing a half-marathon is tough, but he also knows there are trials that are much harder. He watched his dad fight cancer.

Taylor, a former seven-time NAIA All-American at Minot State, finished second in the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail half-marathon on Sunday, but where he finishes a race is a lot less important to him than his main objective -raising awareness and money for cancer research.

Part of that awareness comes simply from his shirt, which reads "Chemo is harder"in bold, block lettering.

The genesis of the shirt came on June 23, 2006, when Taylor's father, Robert, was diagnosed with tonsil cancer. Taylor has worn the shirt in every race he's run since then with the goal of simply connecting with others and raising awareness of cancer at events such as the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon.

"The thing about cancer is that it doesn't matter what your economic background is, it doesn't matter what race you are, everybody knows someone, has a relative or a friend or someone, that has been affected by cancer,"Taylor, who grew up in Great Falls, Mont., said. "I just want to be able to help in any way I can."

And while that started with the shirts, it has extended to a vision for a 429-mile run across South Dakota, with money raised going to the American Cancer Society.

Taylor and another Rapid City runner, Brendan Murphy, met and decided to do something. Murphy's mother, Theresa, is an ovarian cancer survivor and his father, Tom, passed away in February of 2003 after battling melanoma.

Murphy and Taylor plan on making their 429-mile journey -the Chemo is Harder Cancer Research Run -from Capital, Mont., to Big Stone, Minn., in just 14 days. The duo plans to make an entirely self-sufficient run. They will each have a three-wheeled high-performance stroller filled with 40 to 60 pounds of gear. There will be no support vehicles of any kind making the trip with them.

"Watching dad go through this, it doesn't really matter how much family and love and support you have around you, you're going through that alone,"Taylor said of the intense radiation and chemotherapy treatments. "I wanted something that would kind of reflect that. It's just going to be me, my stroller and the open road. I'm committed, every time I leave a town in the morning I'm going to make it to the next town that day."

Taylor and Murphy will have their "easiest"days on Day 2 and Day 4, when they plan to run 24 miles, the fewest they will have to go in one day. Their longest day will be Day 8, when they'll tackle the 43 miles from Mobridge to Bowdle.

"It will still prove to me again that chemo is harder,"Taylor said. "This is self-inflicted and I do it for fun, really. It will always be easier than what my dad and millions of other people go through. That's really why this all started; it's kind of become my motto, no matter how bad my day might be going or whatever, there's always reason to be thankful."

One of those reasons is that Robert Taylor is still fighting, and getting stronger every day. His treatments and surgery have helped, and the visits to the doctor have brought less fear and more comfort to his family.

"He's doing a lot better,"Taylor said of his dad. "He's getting to the point where every time he goes to the doctor, it's not bad news anymore. There was a point there for about eight months that it seemed like every time you'd go, it was like, 'Man, what are they going to tell me now? Now what's going to be wrong? Now what do we have to look forward to?' Now he's kind of through with that part."

But Taylor knows there are plenty of other people out there dealing with the same fear and pain that his family knows. And that's why he's going to keep running.

To donate to the Chemo is Harder Cancer Research Run or to find out more information about it, go to www.chemoisharder.com.

Contact Duffy at 394-8429 or at padraic.duffy@rapidcityjournal.com