RUNNING THE MARATHON...PLEASE READ!

		Dear friends and family, After more training than I'd care to admit to, I can now say that barring a last minute injury, I'm going to run in this year's NYC marathon. It's always been a dream of mine to accomplish this: my family used to go watch the runners as they came by 86th St. and 1st Avenue and I stood in awe of their resilience. I tried training for a marathon at the age of 21, and my college roommates correctly predicted that I would simply give up rather than go through with the countless hours of pounding the pavement. I tried again at age 24, and got injured. Between the ages 25-27, I don't think I worked out very much at all. And then, thanks in large part to Georgia and her willingness to support me, I got the running bug for real. She encouraged me to sign up for some NYRR races, and I did. By the end of June 2010, I had earned guaranteed entry into the Fall 2011 NYC marathon. Hard to believe, but it's just around the corner. And, again thanks to Georgia, Lily and Felix have not prevented me from getting my miles in. I promise you this: it's not going to be pretty. I'll be lucky to finish in 5:00-- quite frankly, crossing the finish line at all is going to be a victory for me, even if it takes me until nightfall. But I'm in, and I could use your support. In fact, I designed my own running shirt that says "taco daddy" in the hopes that strangers will support me, too. So I'd like to ask two things of you: 1) If you're going to be in New York City on November 6, please come out and cheer. If you intend to watch the race, let me know where you'll be and I'll make sure I swing by. I don't intend to stop and chat-- but I would love high fives or whatever. If you'd like to watch as part of a crowd, let me know. I think Georgia is going to set up shop somewhere and do very little moving. It would be cool to have a crowd yelling "taco daddy" somewhere. 2) I'd like to honor this occasion by raising money for the favorite charity of somebody in my life who has shown enough resilience to put my running efforts in the proper perspective. My aunt Michelle has been fighting colon cancer for over a year, and has not stopped moving, fighting, or loving for even a moment. When I told her about this-- she recommended "Strides for Life," a small colon cancer prevention and early detection non-profit based out of SF. If you would like to support my efforts, I ask that you give here: http://fundly.com/chrisrunsforstridesforlife#/stats Additionally, I'm going to try to update my running blog a bit over the next month to chronicle the last bits until the marathon. You can read that at: www.endorphus.blogspot.com Thanks for reading. Hit me up with where you plan to stand. -Chris