Week 1 - Post 1 - Here's What's Up...

I'd start with a formal personal introduction, however I seriously doubt that anyone I don't know is going to stumble across the page (at least not yet). I will however, introduce the readers to what is going on with this venture. On November 20th, I will be spending roughly four hours running through the streets of Philadelphia, taking part in my first marathon. Finishing 26.2 miles though is only part of the goal that I will be hoping to complete on this day, as I am also attempting to raise $2620 for Donate Life (notice a trend with the numbers?).

Anyone who knows me well, knows how important this organization is to my family. On June 19th, 2007, my uncle, Michael Kirshbaum, was the recipient of a new liver, and is alive today because of this gift. Sadly, eighteen people pass away each day due to the lack of availability of needed organs. On that note, check out these statistics: http://donatelife.net/understanding-donation/statistics/

And while we're at it, my personal donation page: http://tinyurl.com/4xnw4d2

I'll be making weekly posts (at least) on this blog that will include training updates, random musings, and some guest posts from some family and friends. My buddy Tom ran a marathon recently (he also writes quite a blog: www.hocorising.com) and stated, 'We weren't allowed to use headphones, so the race was spent mostly in my head. I thought about life, my career, my family, Columbia, God, and every Lil Wayne and TI song I could remember the lyrics to.' This scared me a little bit, and thankfully I'll be running with my lifelong friend Andy, who will also be dropping in here from time to time.

A very special advance thank you for all the support, I don't know how I'll make it up to you, but I'll promise to figure something out.

-Matt

twitter.com/mstendardi