Sarah Cundiff says she’s not a runner. So how can it be that she’s training for her fifth Nike Women’s Marathon? For Cundiff, the feeling of accomplishment that comes with crossing a finish line is immeasurable. But there’s another result in this race, and that’s the money it raises for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Cundiff, a mother of two, first ran in 2007 in honor of a friend’s 10-year-old daughter, who wdied from leukemia. She formed a team with nine other friends. None of them were trained runners, but each of them finished the 26.2-mile race. (Some walk most of the way, but it all counts.) How did they do it? Through a program called Team in Training, which provides coaching, support and a close-knit team atmosphere to take even a novice from the couch to the finish line. Today, Cundiff is Nike’s official race recruiter for Kansas, and she’s already close to her goal of putting 100 women on a plane to San Francisco for the race this fall. Marathon weekend is like a spa getaway, with a very long run in the middle of it. The perks include the Inspiration Dinner on the night before the race, lavish shopping and activities at the Expotique event in Union Square, and a Tiffany and Co. necklace, handed to racers at the finish line by a San Francisco firefighter in a tux. It’s a medal a woman can wear every day, to remind herself what she has achieved, and raise her confidence in everything she does from then on. “Crossing the finish line is life-changing,” she says. “It’s like having a child. Every breath you take afterward is different.”