Why This Fat Boy Started to Run

I like to succeed or fail at things on a big scale. When I was 22 years old I started a non-profit organization, The Summer Hope Foundation, to support the fight against cancer, in honor of my aunt, Annie, a breast cancer survivor and my best friend Carla's younger brother, Steven, who lost his battle with Leukemia 4 years earlier, my senior year of high school, two days after his 16th birthday. 7 years later, Summer Hope is going strong, raising thousands of dollars for cancer research and patients across the country. In retrospect, I realize, I could've just written a check.

The first time I got caught drunk by my parents, I didn't just throw up in the bathroom and wake them up. No, no, no. I threw up all over myself, blacked out and confided in my mother that I needed to, uhh, find the comfort of a lady friend. In graphic detail.

As I said - succeed or fail on a big scale. So what better way to train for a 26.2 mile marathon that I am completely unprepared and most likely going to fail miserably at, than to have it for all the world to see?

I'm also desperate. I'm not big enough to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser, but not in-shape enough to be as naked as often as I'd like (line forms here, ladies). So I thought, public humiliation was the only reasonable step.

I'm also inspired, and to be fair - that doesn't happen often (I'm a little dead inside). As I've mentioned, cancer has had a profound and stupid effect on my life. In November of 2005, my friends' fatherEd Cook lost his battle with cancer, leaving behind his three daughters, my friends, Jill, Tara & Kerry, a wife, Eileen and countless friends and family that all recall him as one of the world's greatest guys. The following November, his middle daughter, Tara, ran the NYC Marathon for Fred's Team at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. Over 50 of us traipsed around the city cheering her on, all wearing Run. Tara. Run. t-shirts and we raised a couple of thousand dollars for cancer research at Sloan. More importantly, the "Ed's Team for Fred's Team" tradition was born. The next year, Ed's nephew, Patrick ran the marathon. The next - his youngest daughter Kerry. This year the tradition is being kept alive by oldest daughter Jill and Ed's niece, Heather. I'm just riding their coattails, because, to be honest, I'm proud to be a part of "Ed's Team for Fred's Team" - we're four years running...

A $3,000 donation is required to get one of the spots in the marathon on Fred's team. I'll be raising money through both The Summer Hope Foundation's website (www.summerhope.org - currently under construction) and my Fred's Team Page (https://fredsteam.mskcc.org/fundraising/Controller?action=userHome&user_id=40160). If this blog made you smile, feel bad for me or inspired you a little, make a donation. If not... WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!? Just kidding. Not really.

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