3 posts tagged “charity”
Only 39 days till the ING New York City Marathon. Plantar fasciitis in my right foot is the third consecutive injury I have dealt with in rapid-fire succession. Today was my fourth "rehab run" and after five miles the pain was too much to run through. Have decided to once again shut it down for a couple of weeks, and fortunately I will have access to hotel health clubs everywhere I go because . . . .
It's time for some October baseball! We're in the final days of deciding the postseason berths after the most historic, spectacular regular season in the history of Major League Baseball. (My MLB.com article here.). We have had more major milestones than ever (by a mile). There was even that day when Frank Thomas hit his 500th, followed at night by Craig Biggio's truly unforgettable 5-for-5 performance that included hit No. 3,000. Tom Glavine got his 300th win and Roger Clemens his 350th. A-Rod and Jim Thome joined the 500 HR Club. Sammy Sosa hit his 600th (Junior Griffey will do it next spring, when Manny gets his 500th). Trevor Hoffman became the first pitcher to reach 500 saves.
And, of course, there was the chase that resulted in a new home run king and a change of the guard for the most hallowed individual record in any sport, professional or amateur. Maybe you hated it, maybe you loved it, and maybe you tried to be indifferent. But you were probably watching when Barry Bonds cranked No. 756 in August, and when that classy video message from dethroned Hank Aaron came over the AT&T Park scoreboard.
Is there any doubt that October will likewise be something truly out of the ordinary? Could this be the year that the Chicago Cubs not only reach their first World Series since 1945 . . . but also WIN their first world championship since 1908? They still have to take care of business this week first. Will the Yankees finally regain their royalty and win No. 27? Will Cleveland win it all for the first time since 1948? How about a Mets-Red Sox reunion from 1986? And how about my Rockies? I predicted on MLB.com in March that they would go to the World Series. I am pretty sure I am about the only one who predicted that in the civilized world. To me, it was a great young core that was going to come together. They are sure doing that now. (For full disclosure, I also predicted they would face Texas.)
I'll be working the postseason, and as I said, fortunately I'll be able to use hotel health club facilities the whole time -- exercise bike, elliptical, swimming, etc. So I will shut down running for up to two weeks again and keep up my fitness. I am registered for the ING New York City Marathon 18-mile Tuneup this Sunday at Central Park, but it looks like I will just forfeit my $20 entry fee because it's just not that important as I listen to my body. My first marathon approaches fast, and fortunately we are up to $2,134 raised for TEAM FOR KIDS thanks to my friends here and elsewhere. Please click here if you would like to help me make a difference to give a running start to many needy children and donate to this very important cause (my entry number is 94714 and last name is Newman). Any amount is welcome, and maybe you would like to donate $1 per mile -- it would be $26.20 and I promise you would feel GREAT about it.
This is going to be one unbelievable, crowded, busy, amazing October, carrying right over to a November 4 date with destiny that I will somehow finish despite these injuries. And then after that, the completion of my work of a lifetime, "Trees and Numbers," providing a beginning and an ending to the current 210-page manuscript.
That's my life right now.
Yes, this is The Marathon Season.
Team for Kids Donation Form | Entry 94714 | Newman
Dear all my awesome friends:
Have you ever wondered what you can do to make a difference?
I did, and I found a way: I'm running the ING New York City Marathon 2007 as a member of Team for Kids.
In the past five years, Team for Kids members have raised more than $5 million to support running-based fitness and goal-setting programs for 25,000 schoolchildren a week in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Tampa, Tennessee, and South Africa. These classes target at-risk kids -- most of whom don't have physical education in their schools.
You can ensure that more kids benefit from NYRR's youth services by sponsoring my run. You can pledge $1.00 for every mile I run ($26.2 total) or donate any flat amount. All contributions are tax deductible and will be acknowledged as such in a letter to you from Team for Kids.
Most importantly, all contributions will go toward helping kids lead healthier, more productive lives. The New York Road Runner youth services programs teach goal-setting, nutrition, fitness and running skills. Knowing how to make physical fitness a habit can reduce the risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other costly diseases in this population.
Thanks in advance if you would consider helping me -- and thousands of schoolchildren. As a father of three boys who has raised his sons in athletics and is ACTUALLY GETTING TRAINING TIPS FROM THEM (!), I am so, so, so proud to be able to help them and to give YOU this opportunity to help them. It is going to feel TWICE as good to cross the finish line at Central Park after running through five boroughs that Sunday morning on NBC, a few days after I return from working the World Series for MLB. You can help make this happen. I am required to raise $2,500 by the November 4 marathon, and half of that total by late July.
Again, the donation form is right here. If you are kind enough to donate any amount to this cause, please note that you will need my race entry number (94714) and last name (Newman) to do so.
For anyone wishing to donate via regular mail, please make checks payable in US dollars to: New York Road Runners Foundation. The mailing address for that is:
NYRR Foundation Team for Kids
845 Third Avenue, 11th floor
New York, NY 10022
I also have a PDF file of a Donation Card for anyone desiring that, and could send that via email. But the online donation form is definitely preferable.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Your friend,
Mark
As crushing as it was to see "NO" when I entered my name at noon today for the 2007 ING New York City Marathon entrant database, I decided that I am undaunted by the lottery result and will be running the event anyway on behalf of Team for Kids! Thank you to everyone who left me good-luck comments, I really appreciate that!
No, my name was not accepted out of the 98,000 applications from around the world, all vying for about 37,000 spots in the world's biggest marathon. Yes, first reaction was disbelief. But it's all good! You can still run it for charity if you're registered (I registered in February), and I had a lot of supportive MLB colleagues around me here at the offices to pick me up and reinforce that I will have no problem raising the required $2,500 in pledges by the Nov. 4 event. I will go directly from the World Series in some unknown city once I have washed the champagne out of my hair (I always get soaked in the clubhouse!) to a Sunday morning start on Staten Island and then run over the bridge to Brooklyn to Queens to The Bronx to Central Park and practically my front door at Tavern on the Green.
I LOVE RUNNING!
I ALSO LOVE KIDS!
This is perfect for me, and like I said, colleagues here at our MLB offices told me I definitely should do this so I did. And how cool that I just submitted my Team for Kids membership form on the week of Father's Day. It will be an even more fun way to share my first 26.2-mile journey with my three awesome boys, whose Dad will be wearing that bright green singlet within the same year as he quit smoking mainly for them.
So here's the deal, and there will be more details to follow with my fundraising form. Team for Kids raises critical funds for New York Road Runners Foundation youth programs. Team members are adult runners who pledge to raise funds for NYRRF as they train for and compete in premier NYRR races, including the ING New York City Marathon and the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE (which I am also going to be running on August 5!). Since 2002, Team for Kids members have raised more than $5 million for NYRRF and the children they serve.
Supported by the powerful outreach of Team for Kids members, more than 25,000 children a week in more than 150 schools and community centers now participate in NYRRF programs, where they learn critical skills to improve their physical health, emotional well-being, and capacity for personal achievement.
Last week, I received a letter from my Aunt Marti. Her brother, my father, passed away last year. I really miss my Dad. He had the heart of a lion. He would do anything for anyone. In the last year of his life while battling multiple myeloma, he volunteered to drive cancer patients to their chemo treatments. When he passed away, I had to stay around at the hospice to meet the University of Louisville people who had driven two hours to pick up my Dad, who donated his body to medical science there. He donated supplies constantly to a home of nuns in Eastern Kentucky, and all I ever remember most is his desire to make a difference. So that letter from my Aunt Marti read: "Your father's spirit of honesty and giving now lives in you." That felt like a lot to live up to. It was instilled by his mother, my grandmother, who would take me to the State Hospital as a boy just to be around mentally retarded children, and she would always say, "Mark, always remember other people." If I can be half the man my Dad was, I will die pretty happy one day. I have a ton of living to do first, and to live the right way.
Distance running is such an individual sport, with such a focus on ME such as my physique, my mileage, my nutrition, my course, my music while I run...it may be the most individual of athletic endeavors that there is. It is generally solitude, you and your thoughts. I have thought for these last six months about that, and I have been pleased that there are so many NYRR events that benefit worthy causes. In that small way, it feels like you are making a little difference. But I know there has to be much, much more. I never feel like I am doing nearly enough, and I suppose that is how one should feel. I am going to be very happy to start the Team for Kids fundraising.
Now I have something at stake in this that is not just me and my training. It feels like something more, even though I know I wanted to see a YES on that lottery acceptance form that everyone was checking today on the NYC Marathon site. Next year this is a moot point, because just a few weeks ago I qualified for the 2008 NYC Marathon by virtue of running the minimum nine NYRR scored qualifying races in 2007. I just know that within an hour of getting the lottery news, I went from "crushed" to "excited." Yes, everyone will be hearing from me. I won't mean to be a pest. But I now have a marathon to run and another reason to run it. It feels good to know it's all set finally.
This feels like a good time to post a photo I just found of my Dad, and I'm guessing it was sometime in the late '70s. There's also a shot of me and my own sons who I can't wait to spend time with this Father's Day weekend. I am going to be dedicating my first marathon to them, and running it for KIDS everywhere!
Just remember: NO MEANS YES!
Mark
