"Run Today. Live Tomorrow." is Officially Launched

The 2009 Chicago Marathon is 18 weeks away!

I'll be updating this blog regularly as I keep a diary of the countless ups and downs that come with training for a major endurance event and fundraising for a charity that, quite honestly, comes to mean more and more to me every day.

This will be my first marathon, and this will be my first serious charitable fundraising effort as an adult. It's about time.

I look forward to this journey - one that I'd never thought I'd embark on.

I'm excited for setting stretch goals, achieving them, meeting a personal milestone, and doing some good that goes way beyond myself.

I'm nervous for the possibility of failing... of falling short, of getting injured, of the stress I'll put on my body, my life, my family.

I'm anxious to get started and for how it might conclude. The race is 26.2 miles and, for me, will last between four and five hours. Mile one is just part of a long journey - just as week one is just part of a long 18-week program.

Here we go! May God be with me. In the immortal words of Cosmo Kramer: Giddy up!