Giving to charity...

Make a dream come true

"You will find, as you look back on your life, that the moments that stand out are the moments when you have done things for others." - Henry Drummond

I have a little over a month till the marathon, so I think it's time I start putting some effort into this raising money for charity thing. I'm not the kind of person that can easily ask for things...even if it isn't for me, and it's for people, err, kids that really need it. I guess I need to get over that. So here it goes: If you can spare just $5, I would be so happy, and I think you would be to. I know a lot of people look at my fundraiser page, and they think - "Man, it would be so cool if we could do something and donate a ton of money for this..." And I love the sentiment, but there is something you can do. If you can afford it, give $5 or $10 or $1, big or small, it doesn't matter, but it does make a huge difference.

I've had this fundraiser page up for a few months now, and I look at it, and I think, "Does that make sense? Does it explain the charity?" So I wanted to try and make it make more sense. I went to one of my favorite websites (youtube) and started "researching". Hahaha. I wanted to find out just what is GKTW? What do they do? What makes them special?

Here is what I have found out so far:

(I sort of aggregated all of this from a couple of different sources)

This is Hailey Marie's video:



Hailey is doing very well now, no cancer!

Here is a list of some of the things I have learned that your donation will help GKTW do for 1000's of kids this year. For about 80% of these kids, their last wish will be to meet Mickey Mouse.

• everything at GKTW is designed specifically for kids.
• tables are kid height.
• kids get the biggest room in the villa.
• the kids bathroom is the one with the jacuzzi tub.
• kids can have all the ice cream they want until 9:30pm
• kids can have pizza until 10:30
• kids can have a disney character or GKTW staff read bed time stories at night.
• kids can get tucked in at night by the mayor of GKTW (a big bunny named Mayor Clayton)
• kids can watch movies for free all week long at a huge movie theater.
• kids get free access to ALL of the theme parks in Orlando...Sea World, Universal, Disney, etc.
• kids get fast access to all of the rides at the parks, little to no wait for anything.
• kids get behind the scenes access to the characters.
• all of the rules at GKTW are positive, i.e the pool rules explain what you CAN do not what you can't do.
• when the kids return to their rooms at night, there is a present waiting for them every night.
• kids have access to a big fishing pond.
• kids have rides at GKTW just for them.

There is so much more that this organization does. I hope you can help me reach my goal of raising $1000. If you've already donated, I truly appreciate it. I know that there are a few that are planning on donating, but waiting until a little closer to the marathon for the funds they are raising specifically for this, and I appreciate what you are doing too.

Sunday Long Run report

16 clicks (Ok, I'm not really sure what a "click" is but it sounds sooo cool)

Same story, different day: Beautiful day, long and difficult run. Legs feel like pistons firing that could have gone 10 more miles easily. Lungs laughed at my efforts all day, and begged for more. Feet...well, I probably would have been more comfortable in my flip flops. I think they are serious when they say change your shoes after 250-300 miles. These dogs got 430 on them after this weekend. Equipment update coming this week. I told the lady at the shoe store, "I want the same shoe I got on my feet". She just laughed and said, "They've been good to ya, huh?" Indeed, it will be hard to give them up, but they are still in good enough shape to use for work and such. I wonder if it is odd that I love my shoes so much? 430 miles is a lot of time together. The new Radius 7's should be in today.

Only event that happened on the run: Bee sting. 2nd one I've got this year, and maybe it's just because I'm getting older, or maybe the bees that have stung me this year have built their nests in toxic waste dump areas, but I am having terrible reactions to the stings. This has never happened to me before, but I've got a welt the size of my fist on the outside of my knee, and it hurts so bad to stand. Doctor is supposed to be calling me back soon. Really weird.

Movie Friday

Holmes!!!

Movie Friday

I'm all messed up...

Nick Burns, your company's computer guy. I'm a lot like this guy at work. I've started yelling "MOVE" at the guys I work with when I help them with a problem. Hahahaha.

Monday Long Run Report

Hey, it was a long weekend...

Before you read any further, indulge me for a second. Press play on the song up top (right under the title of this post). Just close your eyes and listen and think about the people you love for a good part of the song if not all of it. Thanks. Continue.

Ran to Reynoldsville again. Quite a bit slower this time.

Usually for me, I struggle with running. Right now, running is about the only thing I'm not struggling with.

ETA: I should note that the song is called: Sad Song or something like that. I didn't ask you to do that to make you sad, although I suppose for some, it might do just that. The request was to simply get you to think about someone.

FWIW (Big on the acronyms tonight): I picture my kids running around in the grass and laughing, and sitting around Papa's fire ring. I picture going to college with my mom, and walking the whole way across the relatively small campus to see her after classes. I picture having 7 friends over to our house in Hepburnia, and running over acres and acres of forestland playing jailbreak. I picture the family going to church Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening...a lot more but the song is not that long, and I have to keep replaying it....I don't mind.