Berkeley’s guest runner for the 24th Senshu International City Marathon was Rachel Valenzuela. She is a medic/firefighter with the Berkeley Fire Department. Rachel is 34 years old, married and has four kids!! She is a very busy lady! Her husband, Stephen Morgan (who is also a Berkeley firefighter), accompanied her to Sakai for the marathon. Rachel and Stephen were in Sakai for a total of 7 days (February 17-23) with the race held on Sunday, February 19. Besides running the marathon, they visited Mayor Takeyama and a local elementary school and were hosted by a Sakai family. After their stay in Sakai, they visited other parts of Japan before returning home.