Went Over $5,000 in Fund Raising Today!!

Last year at this time I was agonizing about what to write for my annual Team in Training fund raising letter. Sometimes it takes me a long time to put into words what I want to say. Even before my bike accident I was having trouble coming up with what to say. The inner procrastinator was winning the war of words, but finally on July 31st I sent out my letter. People were awesome, and despite the lateness of my mailing I still was able to raise over $7,000 before I went to San Francisco to do the Nike Women's Marathon.

This year I decided I had no excuse not get the mailing out in early June. I actually banged out the letter in one evening over Memorial Day weekend. I guess being by myself in a hotel at LAX can cure even the worst case of writer's block. So after returning from a weekend of playing some pretty marginal chess games, I was ready to launch my 10% better campaign. I decided I want to raise at least 10% more money then I did last year, and I wanted to reduce my walk time by 10%. Since I like nice round numbers I decided $8,000 fund raising, and a time of 6 hours 30 minutes for the marathon were challenging, but doable numbers.

Today the two donations I received put me over $5,000. My goal of $8,000 is looking more and more realistic since I've still got the rest of summer, and early fall to go. I have a number of activities in the next few weeks where I'll get a chance to ask for donations. Seeing people in person is a great way of bring attention to my cause.

Though much of my training lately has been focused on the bike so that I don't totally kill myself next week, the walking is coming along fine. We start our official training this weekend, but I've been doing a lot on my own. I also got a head start by doing some longer walks with TNT'ers getting ready for the Anchorage Marathon. Also I did some nice walks in Budapest and the Jersey shore.

PS. If anyone would like to contribute go to: http://www.active.com/donate/tntwhv/PollyWright