And I'm off

I e-mailed a friend of mine, Stephen Wright, a week and a half ago with a birthday offering: a run, his pace, short distance. When he accepted the offer, he didn't realize what he was getting himself into: the FIRST run in a long series of runs to train for the New York City Marathon. Today was the day he took me up on the offer, and as with most 3.5-5 mile runs, there wasn't anything momentus about it...other than it was the FIRST run in a long series of runs to train for the New York City Marathon. We did the typical Aquatic Park-to-Chrissy Field-out-and-back loop, added a few hills and staircases, and ended with a cool down. It had been awhile both since we ran together and since I ran that course. He swears it's because I beat him in the US Half a few weeks ago. I think it's golf.

Either way, when we parted ways, I was glad to finally start a training season with another person. Just like I was glad when Eva Cassidy's version of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" came on as I ran home. I felt that way throughout the day today as I have seen support come in. Wow - more than $1,000 raised in one day. I am truly blessed to have this network of family and friends and colleagues and send a special shout out to the following folks for their contributions thus far:

• Eric and Erika Edelson


• Lori and Tristan Wilhelm


• Emily Bobel


• Masharika Maddison


• Acasia Feinberg


• Jonathan Dobson


• Mark Palchak


• Joe James


• Adeel Iqbal


• Jennifer Kuhr


• Jessica Stewart


• Abbas Hasan


• Jennifer Shine-Figured


• Dana Gottheim


• Claudia Lewis


• Cameron Duffy


• Guadalupe Tofalo


• Giselle Schmidtz


• James Choe


• James Orr


• Denice Leong


• Cara Volpe


• Rishi Patel


• Tania Gutierrez


• Emily Schaffer

And of course, thanks to Stephen for taking the first steps toward New York City with me.