Hicksville native Michael Keilty, a 1991 graduate of Our Lady of Mercy and a 1995 graduate of Chaminade High School, is used to getting up early and training. A captain with the United States Army, Keilty is currently stationed at Camp Darulaman Air Force Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan.

Most recently, 30-year-old Keilty, who graduated from West Point in 2000 and is currently a student at Fordham Law School, has been training for a different type of mission. Home for an eight-day deployment, Keilty will take to the streets Nov. 18 for the 2008 Philadelphia Marathon. At this time, he will run 26.2 miles in memory of three fellow Chaminade High School graduates he never met and who lost their lives in Iraq.

United States Marine Michael LiCalzi, an avid reader, surfer and Mets fan from Garden City, was killed in May 2006. He was 24. Army Ranger James Regan of Manhasset, a Duke University graduate and lacrosse player, was on his fourth tour when, in February, he was killed by a roadside bomb. He was 26. United States Marine Ronnie Winchester of Rockville Centre, a US Naval Academy graduate and starting offensive lineman, was killed in 2004 by a bomb. He was 25.

To honor his fellow alumni, Keilty will run to raise money for Wounded Warriors Project, a Nebraska-based nonprofit that supports families of injuried or killed soldiers, as well as charities designated by the Regan, LiCalzi and Winchester families. He has joined forces with the Manhattan-based company Take Pride, which was founded by Garden City resident Patrick Gray, a member of Chaminade's Class of 1992.

To make a donation in honor of Keilty's cause, visit www.takepride.com and click on the "special edition" section. Anyone who donates $30 or more will receive a Take Pride T-shirt.