Let the Adventure Begin....

The goal: Raise as much money for cancer research
The plan: Run my first marathon in under 3 hours
The reality: I am 6'4, 200lbs, with "child-bearing hips." This is not going to be easy!

In the beginning of April I started running regularly along Lake Michigan. I've always had the idea in the back of my head to run a Marathon (although if you had asked me what I thought about marathons you may have thought I had the conception that marathons were created by Beelzebub himself) but never had the opportunity. Now that I am settled in a new city (Chicago) with a great job (evil financial minion), I am ready to give it a shot. But there were 2 stipulations: do it for charity and break 3 hours. The first was a no-brainer. So many people in my life have been effected by cancer and I hope this small act will help people much smarter than me find a cure sooner rather than later. My father beat cancer 8 year ago. And my aunt has beat it 3 different times over 12 years (her most recently battle was this past Summer). They are easily two of the toughest people I know, and my main reason I am running. But so many other people in my life have been effected by cancer: friends, neighbors, co-workers, teachers.... the list goes on. And that is why I want this blog to not only be my training journal... but also a journal about the people who have lived with/through cancer in some aspect of their lives.

Now "why 3 hours?" you ask. Well... if I'm going to put myself through this horrific race, I might as well go after it. I came up with 3 hours because that is the number I've been told is "impressive." Two year ago, while living in NYC, I got on a treadmill thinking I would be doing a short run and ended up doing a half marathon in 1hr27min. Yes I know the treadmill is likely easier, but I'm going to actually train for this! And you can read about it here! I know you are just overflowing with excitement, so I'll leave you now to go think about just how much fun it is going to be reading this blog over the next 5 months :/ I do promise to try and make it entertaining and also somewhat educational. I will end with my first plea for donations: DONATE! (PS: over the next few months I will have goals that if we hit I do silly things... ideas are welcome for those prizes!)

And here... we... goooo