A way to make a difference

If you are coming to my blog from Runner's World, then you already know that I am getting ready to run my third marathon. I am really looking forward to this because we are going to have friends that I have never met coming in from all over the southeast. It will be great time to meet and put faces to the names and personalities that I have gotten to know through the forum on Runner's World.

However, all the preparation was feeling a bit empty because there has always been a philanthropic component to my marathon preparation.

I had my first real distance running training and ran the Chicago marathon in 2005 with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

My training and fundraising was more personal when I ran in Houston in 2007. I ran for the American Cancer Society. My Dad had started treatment for colon cancer and a the son of a very good forum friend had suffered a reoccurred of a very aggressive form of childhood cancer. So, I ran Houston for Dad and Cody. The starting line picture from that race is the picture that I use for this blog.

Since that time, Dad has gone into remission, but Cody, Mickey, and their family are still fighting Cody's Neuroblastoma Cancer with everything they have.

On change.org I found a way that you can donate to the Band of Parents. Band of Parents is just what it sounds like. Their mission statement:

We are parents of children diagnosed with a cancer called neuroblastoma who want to help further the research and drug development desperately needed to save more children. Neuroblastoma is an "orphan" cancer; pharmaceutical companies are not developing new treatments because there is not a large enough patient base to make development profitable. Funding from the government is similarly limited. Time is running out for many of our children -- money stands between them and a cure.

As parents, we have banded together to increase public awareness about neuroblastoma and to raise funds for the development of novel therapies. We are working in partnership with a talented and dedicated team of doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) who are fighting to save our children from this deadly disease.

Please link over to the fundraising site and help where you can.

Thanks for the Quote GB

"Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life." Galatians 6:4-5

I just lifted the verse of the the blog of one of my very dear friends that I have never met. Like all scripture, it is filled with truth and applicability. I have a couple blogs going, and I'm going to put it up on both of them as a reminder because it gives great perspective.

Like most people, I have goals and demands, things I like to do, things I have to do. In every case and circumstance, I am known by what I do and directed by my aspirations.

I am a Christian. I want to serve God with my best.

I am a husband and father. I want to provide for my family in more than just what they need.

I an a Cub Scout Leader. I want to help these boys grow to be strong, productive members of society.

I am a runner. I would like to qualify for the Boston Marathon, and I want to help others to develop a love of running.

I am an engineer and an employee. I want to help my company to grow and be more profitable.

I am tired and feeling pulled in too many directions. Every now and then I need to pull back from the task at hand and look at the big picture. I'll still have just as much to do, and just as much time to do it. The perspective helps. I am not to be impressed with myself or to compare myself with others. I just need to do the very best with what I have.