It is January of 2013 and I have officially begun training for this years exercise in pain, agony and stupidity. I am of course talking about the Boston Marathon and I have sent in my application and received confirmation from my good friends at the BAA that, yes, in fact they are going to let me run this year despite my less than ideal body type.
I have fully recovered from last year's ungodly hot run and I am looking forward to making this year the best one yet from not only a time but also from a fundraising standpoint. Last year I was overwhelmed by the donations that I received. I set a goal of raising $3,000 and I was thrilled to receive over $3,700. This year I am going raise the stakes and see how people respond. This year the goal will be $4,000 and I am confident that it can be reached and surpassed.
As far as time goes...well...I think we all know where this is going (or at least you would if had read this blog over the last couple of years) My goal this year is to break the ever elusive 5 hour mark. For some perspective the first year I ran I finished in 5:55:21. That was followed by times of 5:21:29, 5:33:20 and last years brutal 6:03:42. To shave 22 minutes off of my best time is, at best daunting, and sometimes, it seems downright impossible. However, I am going to work harder than I ever have and I WILL break that 5 hour mark. It is up to you to break the $4,000 mark.
Now I want to say a little bit about why I am doing this at all, my son Max. As a lot of you already know my oldest son was born with a genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis. It has caused him a wide variety of problems including a number of tumors that have grown on the surface of his skin, a larger, more complex tumor that has grown on his elbow, some learning disabilities, some fine and gross motor skills problems and an inoperable brain tumor. He has done remarkably, inspirationally well despite all of the things going against him. He is now 16 years old and a junior in high school. He gets pretty good grades (much better than I did in high school) and he is now a licensed driver. (Yikes!) He is very heavily into the FIRST Alarm Robotics team (and now he can drive himself to the lab...Yay!!!) He is now looking at (gulp!) colleges. He originally wanted to go to WPI for video game development but we are also looking at Fitchburg State for the same discipline. He continues to surprise us every day. He is a smart, funny, weird and always inspirational figure in our family.
I know every parent thinks this but I truly believe Max is destined to do great things and by raising money for NF Inc, Northeast I think we can all make that happen.
As always ANY amount of money is greatly appreciated and you can donate in one of two ways:
- First - Go to my CrowdRise Fund Raising page here and leave your inspirational words of encouragement (or scathing insults) along with your generous donation.
- Second - Make out a check to NFNE and send it to NF Northeast - 9 Bedford Street - Burlington, MA 01803
If you want to visit NF Inc. Northeast you can visit them here.
Also take a look around this blog for some surveys and other fun stuff that I will post over the next couple of months. Take a read of the book that I am writing and feel free to let me know your thoughts and opinions. I have posted the first several chapters on this blog.
Thanks for listening and please come back and visit often.
Til next time...
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