SF10 For Imerman Angels

It has been five months since I last stepped to the starting line of a race. The last time was for the Houston Half Marathon the same weekend as the Marathon Olympic Qualifier. That was such a special weekend meeting Christopher, our home stay, and the wonderful people connected with the C Different Foundation. It was especially special since I had the great privilege to travel, spend the weekend, and race with the fabulous, Jennifer Pfaff. She is simply amazing! As an athlete and a friend. This coming Saturday, I will once again wake up on race day. It will be the third consecutive year I will run the Soldier Field 10. As was the case each of the two years I have previously run in this event, Michael Crissie will be my sighted guide. He and I will be tethered together and it will be his responsibility to ensure I go the ten mile distance as safely as possible. I am excited for Michael because this is the first race he will get a chance to guide since his moment of inspiration. Earlier this year, he told me that seeing the pictures from last October's Chicago Marathon when Kimberly Shah and Jennifer Pfaff guided me to a Boston Qualifying time was quite moving. He also stated that reading my blog entries as well as Kimberly's race report on her Iron Insanity blog was very emotional. He was motivated to become a stronger runner and better guide. He has been pushing himself preparing for Soldier Field 10. I have been getting ready with the help of a tremendously gifted person named Jenna. I have goals for SF10, but I will wait to see if I reach them before informing my readers about Jenna. If you are a regular reader, you may have already seen previous posts discussing what a tremendous athlete she is. If not, I do not want to say all the wonderful things I feel and how I believe she is making me a better athlete only to then go out and lay an egg this weekend. That would only reflect badly on her. Of course, if I crush my goals as Michael and I hope we will, then you will never hear the end of how Jenna deserves most of the credit for getting me ready. Truth be told, I am very confident that there will be races this year where I will perform even better than I expect and I know it will be because of Jenna. I am confident I will be singing Jenna's praises tirelessly in the months to come. For now, I hope you visit the link below to my fundraising page for Imerman Angels. I raced and raised funds for them last year and have returned to do more of the same this season. The three races I will run with Team IA are Soldier Field 10, Chicago half Marathon on September 9, and Chicago Marathon this October. The first steps to a successfuly season with IA will be taken this Saturday. I hope you will come on this journey with me. Please follow my progress here and feel free to get involved by donating or passing the link to others who may have an interest in helping an organization which provides one-on-one cancer support to current fighters. Survivors mentor those who are currently experiencing the same type of cancer. There are also care givers and volunteers to help the loved ones of a cancer fighter as the loved ones also may need help in order to deal with the cancer or how to best help those suffering with cancer.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/israel/2012