RE: To complete a journey

This was my pre race letter- which is kind of a pre blog

Dear friends and colleagues

I am 2 days away from my awesome journey's completion.
In under 2 days I will be running a half marathon on the Las Vegas strip.

As some of you know the way to get there was not easy for me.
I began late February and was training for a June race and tore my calf on the soccer court from over training. After Weeks of therapy, pain and limping I began training back and got reinjured (volley ball) , and from there training more but trying hard not to overdo it and limiting my activities.
Till now I have ran 11 miles at one point (18K) , so the half marathon will be my longest personal run ever and it is a frightening challenge.

Along the way I had thought of quitting several times, I think I would like to quit even now… but I am committed. I am exposed to CROHNs greatly with my sister Michal suffering from it greatly and my wife has a lighter case of this awful disease as well, so I know that by doing this I am helping them both, and helping millions who are sick with either CROHNs or Colitis.
I was surprised to find out that 3 other company employees have close family members with these diseases, didn't know till then how wide spread it was.

So the running part is close to completion, all I have to do is not give up for 3 hours or so and I am done. My audio book is set, I have a new battery, shoes and clothes are ready, weather is ideal. All that needs fine tuning is my mind.

For the other part of the journey, I need help to complete it. The fund raising part. So far I have collected 75% of the sum. When I started, I received a big support from you and that gave me a big push, I need another push to get me over the top. I hope you will show the same kindness as you have a year ago and donate whatever you can, every sum helps. The donations are text deductible and CCFA is top rated in the direction of the funds, so they are not wasted on salaries , since they use volunteers like myself to raise the money.
Currently I lack 938.50$ to finish, and since this email goes to over 100 people, it seems possible- 10$ per person average and I am there.

I can't thank you enough for donations, and every donation along the way was a boost of energy for this project. And let me tell you what I have done to gather funds.
Other than emailing everyone I know including face book. I contacted some organizations including the teams I follow (I got a poster from man united but no cash), local Jewish organizations in cleveland, my bankers, the cop who gave me a ticket a few months before.
I walked door to door in our building dressed in green on saint Patrick day, I stood on the door way of Sam's club begging donations, I organized a scavenger hunt and sent people on wild missions, I arranged whole day of games which was a huge fun but early morning rain deterred people away, I arranged a big party the night before the games. I approached various business places for sponsor ship, I did hikes after work, 50/50 raffle and a trivia night, and a few more little things along the way. My approach in life and I tried to follow it here is , if things are to be better, many people should help a bit, instead of a few helping a lot. And true I am doing a lot right now, but I expected people to give a little every time in exchange for fun.
This was a busy year for me and my efforts have been fruitful but insufficient, will you help me?

With time ticking away and my nerves are stretched, the thing that will help me more is emails from the donation site (I get one on every donation); I don't want large sums (but would not object☺) but many small sums; 5$, 10$ ,20$ will be better.
http://www.active.com/donate/lv09neohio/vegas09GEven

Ok- I am about to board to Vegas, please lift my spirit and I promise not to give up.

Wish me luck

Gil Even
December 4th, 2009-12-04
Midway airport

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