This photo reminds me that overcoming our fears can lead to some of life's best experiences and our proudest moments. And as of now I am terrified.
MARATHON UPDATE #16 (One More Time)
To make a donation visit my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/la11/bsosax
Ok, so I was planning on doing more of these this time around, but somehow I’ve found a way to let life impede that. But here we are. So I’ve officially kicked off training for this next marathon 2-3 times to no avail. Every time I got started, I let the fact that this is going to be extremely difficult and scary stop me. Well, I’ve once again “officially” kicked off training for the 2011 LA marathon, and this time I did it by running a 5k (3.1 miles). I actually placed third in my division which was cool, but leads me to believe that I was either mistakenly added to the seniors division, or that there were only 4 or 5 people in my division. That said, I’m officially training!!! I’ve added some additional motivation to the reason I’m doing another one of these marathons (more on why I’m doing another marathon later) and am doing pretty well. As I’m typing this I’m sitting with my dinner (fresh produce and water) after having completed a pretty good workout. So I figured I’d ride the momentum and do an update.
How this season will work for me. So last year I asked for support in many ways, one being donations and I was blown away by the support. We raised over $4,000 and had over 100 contributors, many of who I’ve never met. That was amazing. Truly, truly amazing. The effect of having over 100 people step up to the plate to help a cause, raised awareness and caused a few more people to get involved in the fight against cancer. That gave me the idea for this season’s fundraising rules:
1) The goal is to raise $2,500
2) I would like NO donations greater than $5
That means we need a minimum of 500 people donating!!!! That is a bit crazy and scary but I truly think we can do it. As much as the funds raised change lives, the awareness raised changes the entire battle. I’ve already got some feedback on this strategy which I’ve boiled down to some FAQ’s:
1) Why only $5? - I really don’t want to be that guy who is asking for a ton of money every year, but I don’t want to stop raising awareness and funds for the battle against leukemia that I am intimately familiar with. And $5 should let everyone who wants to, be able to contribute. Times are tight, but for anyone who is unsure if they can spare $5, a trip to the City of Hope to watch a child go through a biopsy where they rip a piece of bone out of their pelvis should help (sorry for the guilt trip).
2) What if I want to give more? That is awesome and I appreciate that you want to. But please DON’T. There are two reasons for this: a) I want for all of you and me to be able to spread the word about the 500 people giving $5 to change the world, and a bigger donation kind of messes that up. b) If you want to give more, and only give the $5, you’ll have it inside you to go beyond the donation and perhaps tell people. At least that’s what I’m hoping.
3) How will you get 500 people to donate? That is the million dollar question, or $2,500, dollar question. Last season we had over 100 supporters. If everyone got 5 people to take 5 minutes out of their day and give 5 dollars (notice a theme) we’d hit our goal. The truth is we won’t have everyone get more supporter. Unfortunately we’ll probably only get ½ of that. So that means that the 50 of you who want to support again this year, need to get 10 more people, or have your friends get new people.
4) Why do you want to raise less money? It is true that my goal is lower than what I raised last year, but the effect of having over 100 people gain awareness about a disease that is the number 1 cancer killer amongst children was priceless. Some of those 100 supporters got involved in making and difference and the army to fight the battle against cancer got bigger. That to me is worth more than a few thousand dollars. If this goes well perhaps in 2 or 3 seasons we could be shooting for 5,000 people donating $5.
5) How can I help? I thought you’d never ask. First off donate 5 dollars. Second start telling people about this awesome guy you know, who is kicking cancers ass and running marathons to help children who are dying. If that doesn’t work, show them a picture of a puppy. If that doesn’t work RUN, because you’re talking to the devil. If you need more reasons as to why this is an awesome cause, here is a link to a Marathon Update from last season that goes into greater detail:
http://ihaterunningbutihatecancermore.blogspot.com/2010/02/marathon-update-7.html
So now that I’ve explained the ground rules, I’ll tell you why I’m doing this again. For all of us fighting this battle, either ourselves or through a loved one, there are 2 days you dread. The first is the day we all dread and that is the day you don’t wake up. The second is the day your doc tells you the fight is over and you’re going to lose. About 2 months ago someone who I’ve gotten to know well through this experience had the second of the 2 days. Having a daughter who at the time was 7 months old, more than anything he wants to see her walk, hear her say “da-da” and maybe have enough time to impact her happiness enough so that it will carry through to the rest of her life. Picking on my over competiveness he gave me a challenge, if I could find a way to get my body to do another marathon, he’d find a way to stick around and see it. So here we are.
Now that I’ve made this update far longer than I originally intended I’ll conclude with this, the last season and the support changed me forever. To give back I want to find a way to use that to change the world. If we get 500 now, there is no reason that can’t be 1000 the following season. And then who knows, maybe I’ll stick around long enough to get to 25,000. Spread the word and feel free to send people the link to my blog: www.ihaterunningbutihatecancermore.blogspot.com
Oh, and leave comments, I love them.
B
