Running for reading

Too much information, I know, but just now I was clipping my toenails and noticed the monstrous blister under my right middle toe so I expertly clipped a small incision and then pried the rest of the blister wide open with the nifty retractable nail file, emptying out the contents. What was once a juicy, bulbous balloon is now a lifeless crater that kind of resembles this one.

The reason I had that blister? Because instead of taking the bus like I always do, I ran home from work, all 4 miles from the Goldcoast to Wrigleyville.

The reason I ran home from work? Because I'm training for something that's been waiting to be crossed off my to-do list for a very long time: the Chicago Marathon.

Big deal, you're thinking. So what. More than 40,000 people a year run the Chicago Marathon. But what will make this a notable feat is that since I refuse to let this take over my social life, I'm only going to commit the minimum amount of training towards the race. This means I'm still going to consume copious amounts of whiskey, while jogging only as an alternative to public transportation. And then when October 12 rolls around, I'll complete the 26.2 miles on nothing but pure heart, in an almost supernatural display of will and endurance. I'll be called the David Blaine of the jogging world.

You'll see.

I was planning on keeping my plans to run the marathon a secret until the day of the race, but it turns out I actually do need to announce this to the world. Since registration closed long before the idea of running the marathon even occurred to me, I discovered that the only way I could participate was through an official charity program. After spending a lot of time being unimpressed by run-of-the-mill types like the American Cancer Society or the Children's Memorial Hospital, the charity that caught my eye was Rock For Reading, an organization that fights illiteracy and encourages the gifts of reading. Their mission statement really spoke to me because somewhere out there is a poor inner city child who is looking at my website, eyeing the masthead graphic of me posing a comedian, wondering how funny my stories really are because he can't read them himself. This is obviously a crusade that has become very personal to me.

As part of my obligation, I have to raise $750 for this charity by the day of the race, or else I will pretty much just die. You can help me out by going to the following URL and making a donation, as small or as large as you'd like:

http://www.active.com/donate/rockforreading08/PNguyen454