Sunday, July 30, 2006

10 days and counting

the official kick off for the marathon is 10 days away and training starts just three days after that...eeeek!

leading up to training...i think i'm going to try get to the gym daily, just to get back in the habit before the difficult stuff starts. that's always the hardest for me. work, friends - the city itself sometimes seems to go out of it's way to distract you from taking the time to take that time.

when i was training for the bike ride i was really dilligent about going to spin classes nearly every day, mostly at 6:30 in the morning. those of you that know me well, know that i am not a morning-person. for those that don't, you'll find me with the scowl of a 3-year-old woken from a nap on my face, and it remains until at least one cup of coffee has been administered. this time though, in addition to physically training, i've got a reason that means so much, i'm not as worried about being able to drag myself out of bed.

i'm also going to work on my fundraising letters tonight. its already me sad, thinking about steve and his family, but its not going to get any easier so i'm going to try to get at least two of the three done tonight. wish me luck.

Friday, July 28, 2006

off-topic: “I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming. I know my coauthors would as well.”

Amazing opinion piece in The Times from yesterday...particularly useful for those skeptics who say global warming is a myth...

Cold, Hard Facts

You may need to log in to the Times...

I'll post the whole article if I find people are having trouble reading.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

phoenix on my mind

i have never been to phoenix before. unfortunately i've never really been anywhere out west. well, west in the middle - i've been to california and washington, but never arizona, colorado etc.

i started getting a little nervous about the weather. phoenix, is, as my friend says, "the desert", and the last thing i need against me in the running is the weather. lucky for me, phoenix averages 54 degrees in january - which i'm pretty sure i read somewhere is the ideal marathon running tempurature!!



tempurature. check.

i also checked out the course map - i didn't realize that we'll be going through scottsdale - fancy. check it out.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

ideas abound!

i met up with abbi tonight and talking to her about fundraising and such has sparked a whole new bunch of ideas!

she works at a restaurant, and i was thinking i could get a gift certificate to auction off, but she was saying she could probably host an event for me where the restaurant donated the space and the food. sweet. *then* we came to the idea of a silent auction...and at the first brainstorm...here's this list of stuff i might be able to get (if my friends and clients will be so kind as to donate them):

trip to scotland (or at least the hotel/rental car)
some puma sneakers/gear
designer jewelry
golf clubs/gear
yoga gift certificates and lessons
other restaurant gift certificates
gym membership
baseball tickets
whisky

not a bad silent-auction potential if you ask me...if you have ideas or want to donate auction-worthy items, e-mail me!

off topic: 1st time co-pilot

this is off-topic as it pertains to the marathon but on-topic as it pertains to being a do-gooder.

i went to an orientation a few weeks ago for another cool non-profit: Right Rides.

Right Rides provides a free, late-night ride home service for women to lessen the chance of sexual harrassment and assault. They have a partnership with Zip Car and there are three teams of two, a driver and a navigator, who drive people home between 12 and 3 am every saturday night. if you volunteer to be a driver, your zip car membership is on the organization since you need to be a member to drive one of the cars.

so tonight, is my very first night as a navigator. eventually i might sign up as a driver, but not having driven very much since i've lived here, i figured i'd take on my typical role as co-pilot for now. i'm meeting the driver at the garage at 11:45 pm...i think a nap will be in order sometime this afternoon/evening if i'm going to make it.

Friday, July 21, 2006

donation link - live!

i'm probably overly excited but i now have a page that accepts the thousands of dollars worth of donations i'm going to bring in.

not that anyone's reading this yet, but, this is the link to my page:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntnyc/jengiroux

donate away america!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

team brimfield girls

when we were all growing up, steve was one of those guys that had no problem hanging out with all us girls and keeping his "manliness" intact (manliness in quotes since we were all boys and girls back then).

steve and the brimfield girls. that's how we rolled.

so in my marathon-induced-delerium (for all my smarts, i can't spell so just get used to it now), i've now asked the brimfield girls to join me in the marathon.

i've got two "maybe"s out of 5 - yahoo! am i a pusher or what?

something else i just realized yesterday...one of my co-workers husband's is suffereing from leukemia. a totally healthy 40-something marathon runner himself, he was diagnosed just a month or so ago. i knew he was sick but hadn't realized (or at least hadn't thought about it) when i was signing up for the run. he's getting treatment now, and his wife is so strong and brave.

and now i'll run for her and her family too.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

so i'm going to run a marathon.

mmm, yeah.

signing up for a marathon was not exactly what i intended to do with my tuesday night in the middle of a heat wave. i mean, i knew the possibility existed that this would happen...but let me back up.

last october i rode in a three-day bike ride from maryland back to nyc. it was amazing, and benefitted a local charity called New York Scores. shortly before the ride, i got some really sad news about my childhood friend steve, who had been battling hodgkins for quite a few years. he, his wife and his family had decided that there would be no more chemo, no more experimental procedures...they were going to do what they could to make him comfortable.

steve and his family were my inspiration throughout the ride, and the following weekend i went up to massachusetts to see him. i don't really know how to describe it and the closest i can say is that my friend had transformed from 29 years old to 60 with the sickness. just a few days later, he died. i was so lucky to have gotten to say goodbye.

recently i've been a little bored and realized it was time to do something else good for the world. i wanted to find something that was not only that, but something that would be really meaningful to me. i stumbled upon team in training, an organization that raises money for the leukemia and lymphoma society through endurance rides and runs. perfect...if i was going to do another crazy bike ride, i could do something to help families like steve's.

tonight was an info session. i intended to listen, maybe pick out a bike ride, and think on it for a few days. but the more i sat in the room listening, seeing the cheesy-yet-compelling recruitment videos, thinking about steve, hearing a story about a young couple who had been assisted by the society...i knew that i would sign up for an event that night.

the rides were only 100 miles, which would be pretty easy for me. that left...a marathon. seriously scary. running is a whole other animal, one that i've never been very comfortable with. the most i've run in my life is 4 miles. painfully.

but in the moment of sign-up-or-go...i signed up. i signed up for a marathon on january 14th, in phoenix, arizona. my goal is to personally raise at least $5,000. i've got about 6 months to become the runner i never was.

run girl run.