How am I doing? Thanks for asking. In short, great. In long, I’ve experienced some minor aches and pains and grosser stuff I won’t put in this email but week-to-week have been solid. Last weekend I completed my longest run of 20 miles and have been “tapering” since (starting to run less and rest more to let one’s body recover/get stronger for the race). This past Saturday I did 14, have 8 next weekend and then comes the big 26.2.

From when I began training to now, I’ve run an estimated—with the help of Nike+, which I use to track most runs—500 miles. From when I began training to now, I’ve met some incredible people also running for MS and made some good friends…2 with whom I’ll likely be running the marathon. (That is, if we can coordinate and find each other amongst the other 39,000 runners.) From when I began training to now, I’ve been both motivated and extremely touched by the support you’ve given me and this great cause.

When I began training with the Run MS team, I started with a goal of raising $3,450. Now, thanks to you, I have just surpassed $4,000. And I’m making a push for a nice, round $5000. So if you’d still like to donate (or pass on to someone who may like to donate):

Click here

Thank you’s go out to:

Vince and Ila Gaffney, Megan Gaffney, Larry and Linda Fields, Craig Addeo, Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Hara and Michael Cohen, Steve and Patti Cohen, Howie and Cathy Stein, Phyllis and Jarrett Pikser, Patricia Marchese, Kerri Holt, Jeff Stein, Lauren Cochran, Eric Rattner, Adrian Ho, Brean Cunningham, Jeffrey Greenblatt, Laith Kalamchi, Michael Rubinfeld, Jess April, Stephanie Redlener, Andrew Tchabovsky, Hara and Michael Cohen, Matt O’Laughlin, Robert Nelson, Lisa Michel, Kirsten Shiroma, Eric Friedman, Kim Nguyen, Jeff Friedman, Jason Brupbacher, Steven Krammer, Sherri and Jeff Feinman, Ron and Diane Kaufman, Matthew Jung, Mark DiMassimo, Paul Garvey, Zach Lev, Eric Mishlove, Tom Theys, Erica, Dave and Noah Ellenbogen, Barry Blyn, Jen Giroux, Eve Silverman, Jason Oke, Pete Brown, Justin Eshak, Michael Katz, Matthew Johnson, Steven Fields, Leah Zamkow, Donna and Ed Mishlove, Tori Greene, Marie Shadi, Lee Goldstein, Chad Blakenship, Kamila Prokop, Genna McKeel, David Buxton, Slyvan Garfunkel, Arthur Marino, Aki Spicer, Noah Brier, Evan Schepps, Sarah Saline, Sean Cox, Toby Daniels.

Update: Since sending the email early this morning, I’ve reached $4,551. Thanks to Adrian Heney, Alain Sylvain, Annie O’Rourke, James Hochleutner, and Mara Kelly.

Perfect time for an update. Well, to be honest, tomorrow would probably be the perfect time given it will be exactly two months. But since I can’t guarantee there will be time write this post tomorrow, I’ll say today is the perfect time to write and tomorrow is the perfect time to read it. I’m glad we were able to compromise. Wait, but then I wonder if I should change that first line to address the many readers (double digits at least), who have better things to do than read this on Labor Day. At least those New Yorkers, who have been blessed with a beautiful one for tanning and barbecuing. (Okay, “blessed” is a bit much). And especially those people, who’ll be headed back to an office with a desk in it with a computer on it that they’ll be sitting in front of all day tomorrow. Or is it today? Tuesday? You there? Here?

Exhausted yet? Confused perhaps? I promise there’s a complete sentence. In the future. The update:

Since I (officially) started training on July 15th, I have run approximately 130 miles. That includes everything from my first 4 miles with the Run MS crew on that Tuesday night to yesterday’s 10K (6.2 mile) Nike+ Human Race, a global race which I ran solo on the West Side Highway and in which I’m currently placed 2936th (out of how many I’m still unsure). My longest distance has been a little over a half marathon, so I’m going to have to step up the mileage in September in order to have a nice taper toward mid October. That means stopping drinking and wearing white pants. (I don’t know which will be more difficult!)

In addition to training, I’ve raised $3,345 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society—only $105 short of reaching my total goal. And with 2 months left, while I’m hesitant to explain why I chose $3,450 as my initial target (fine, it was because I’m aiming to finish the marathon in under 3 hours and 45 minutes), I’m less hesitant to shoot for a new fundraising goal of a nice even $4,000.

That’s right. Four large. (I think that’s what large stands for but if not, just refer back to the four thousand dollar figure.) Before running at that goal, I want to thank all the people who have helped me to (just about) reach my (old) donation pledge:

Jess April, Stephanie Redlener, Andrew Tchabovsky, Hara and Michael Cohen, Matt O’Laughlin, Robert Nelson, Lisa Michel, Kirsten Shiroma, Eric Friedman, Kim Nguyen, Jeff Friedman, Jason Brupbacher, Steven Krammer, Sherri and Jeff Feinman, Matthew Jung, Mark DiMassimo, Vince and Ila Gaffney, Paul Garvey, Zach Lev, Eric Mishlove, Tom Theys, Larry and Linda Fields, Erica, Dave and Noah Ellenbogen, Barry Blyn, Jen Giroux, Eve Silverman, Jason Oke, Pete Brown, Justin Eshak, Ron and Diane Kaufman, Michael Katz, Matthew Johnson, Steven Fields, Leah Zamkow, Donna and Ed Mishlove, Tori Greene, Marie Shadi, Lee Goldstein, Chad Blakenship, Slyvan Garfunkel, Arthur Marino, Phyllis and Jarrett Pikser, Aki Spicer, Noah Brier, Evan Schepps, Sarah Saline, Sean Cox, Kamila Prokop, Genna McKeel, Steve and Patti Cohen, and David Buxton…so far :)

Once again, I really appreciate all of your support. It’s both touching and motivating. Almost as motivating as my new “Power Song” (which may or may not have been featured recently on The Hills – don’t judge):

For anyone else wanting to make a donation and see their name in the bright shining lights (read as: text) of this blog, you have plenty of time. Just click on this link to donate.

Thank you.

Back to the point: Today, after work, I officially kick-off my training for the NYC Marathon with the NYC Chapter of MS. I decided to Run MS for a few reasons, which I will talk more about in future posts. The first of which is quite honestly that I wanted to run the marathon and thought running for a charity/cause would be a win-win. I would get guaranteed entrance (after being rejected a few years back) and the organization would get a dedicated champion of its cause. (Jen was also an inspiration for this.) When I got to Wieden, I saw that one of our pro bono accounts was the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I was extremely interested in working on this account for two reasons. The first of which was to offset my not helping the world in advertising guilt. The second was a lot less selfish—my friend’s mother has had the disease and in recent years had to fight harder against it. Therefore, I wanted to help by both learning and doing. And I’m proud to say that NMMS has recently become a client of mine.

Please check out My Personal Donation Page. As you can see, I have not started to raise money yet. (The 100 spot was what I dropped initially to get the spot in the race.) And as you can also see, my goal is to raise $3,450. 3 G’s (not to be confused with the iPhone 3G) is the bare minimum and I don’t want to be someone who is thought of as doing the bare minimum when it comes to fundraising for a great cause or wearing flair. But the amount is not arbitrary; it correlates to the time I hope to finish the marathon in – 3 hours and 45 minutes. I ran my first and only marathon (Twin Cities) in October of 2006 in just under 3:48.

While this seems like a conservative goal, three minutes is a lot to cut in running even over the course of 26.2 miles and the temptations and running routes in NYC are greater and lesser, respectively!

So all that said, you’re going to be hearing more about my training and about MS. And I’m going to be asking you (hopefully not harassing) for some support in the form of cash money (PayPal or checks) until November 2, 2008. Starting, well, now if you feel the urge. Thanks for reading everyone. More to come.

An Orphanage in Haiti

If you’re anything like me you’re bored of hearing pleas for help. Well, I’m sorry to say that herein lies one.

In this case it’s something much closer to home. Quite literally actually. The house my mother was raised in, in Port-au-Prince Haiti, has been converted into an orphanage called Enfant Haïtien Mon Frère. My 81 year old grand-uncle has run the entire operation for the past 40 years and helps place kids with families — either safely at home in Haiti or somewhere else abroad.

But here’s the thing. These kids have come from the worst situations imaginable. Some come from extreme poverty, others have fatal diseases like HIV, and others are literally found abandoned in the streets. As you would suspect, Haiti is no home for kids in need.

My brothers, my dad, and I are all going to Haiti in early April. Partly to visit family and the country. And partly to bring some form of help to the orphanage.

So that’s what this is: a simple ask to donate money or stuff to this little Haitian orphanage.

The truth is that money is only one way to help. And often times it’s a tricky thing to ask for. So if there’s anything you can donate (ie, clothes, toiletries, toys, etc.) please do so. Just contact me, keeping in mind that I literally will be delivering things by hand. (My office actually has donated some computers, so that’s cool.)

Please feel free to pass this along. Thanks for even considering this and sorry to bombard email.
Alain

How to send money electronically?
PayPal is the safest and easiest way to send money.
Send whatever you can to alain@sylvain.com.

He lists some other things to send (i.e. children books in French) and his address, but I figured I’d keep that private. If that type of donation appeals to you, leave a comment or shoot him an e-mail. Thanks all.

In July of 2006, Jen decided to run a marathon in memory of her friend, Steven Bouvier (Bouv), who was lost to lymphoma in 2005 at the age of 29. She had never run more than “maybe three miles…with walk breaks,” let alone a marathon. But on January 14, 2007, she ran her first marathon and raised OVER $10,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with Team In Training to help fight against blood cancers.

She didn’t stop there. In June 2007, she ran her second marathon in San Diego, mentoring others and helping in their fundraising efforts. And Jen is now training for her third marathon…in Paris! Oui, it’s true. She once again has ambitious goals: 1. to raise $20,000 and 2. to cut 20 minutes off her time. If anyone can do it, Jen can—and that’s why I had to ask her a few questions.

But before I get into that, I urge you to take a look at her running blog, which gives an inside (and fun) look at her past and present training/fund raising, and if you feel compelled, DONATE.

(Note: Rather than “bold” the questions, I used it to highlight some points that I found particularly interesting/insightful. Let me know if you’re not feeling that move. And also, since this is my first time doing one of these blog interviews you may find the questions random or lame or something else not good. Feel free to leave a constructive criticism in the comments as well. It’s a learning process, and thanks Jen for bearing with me!) Okay, now here we go.

—What was your first step (no pun intended) in transforming idea into action?
I guess the first thing for me was research (as boring as that sounds). I got the itch to “do something good”, and I knew I wanted to do something for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, because my friend died as a result of Hodgkin’s. So for me, it ended up being really easy because as soon as I searched the LLS + charity events, I learned about Team in Training. I signed up for an info session intending to participate in a bike ride, and by the end of the session I found myself signing up for a marathon. I remember my friend asking “Aren’t you even going to think about it?” and I answered “If I think about it, I’m going to talk myself out of it” and passed in my paperwork. Thus the running & fundraising madness began.

—Where is your favorite place to run in NYC?
The upper loop of central park in the evening.

—What is the most surprising thing that happened since you’ve been running for a cause?
I think the overwhelming support of both people I know and complete strangers. I would say am not an overly or overtly emotional person, but I would often find myself misty-eyed over a lot of the emails I would get back from people.

Also the impact of a lot of people doing a little – of the $10,000 or so I raised, there were no donations over $200. That was really special to me – how many people had taken the time and effort to be involved.

Finally, that I’m now running my third marathon. I used to hate running and now, well, it still doesn’t come easy, but its something I really enjoy. Oops, that’s three things, isn’t it.

—Totally fine. What’s the song that keeps you going (during running and/or off)?
Sunday Bloody Sunday. It makes me think of bigger things than how much my feet/legs hurt.

—How do you find the time to train, fund raise, do it all?
Honestly, sometimes I’m not sure. I think you have to make the time for things that mean a lot to you, especially living in NYC where there’s always a million things to do. I try to do my solo runs in the morning because that’s really the only way that I can truly assure they get done. Fundraising and blogging happens after hours since I’m a bit of a night owl. I actually do a lot of the thinking about what’s going to be in my emails and other ideas while I’m running. I probably pay the biggest price in sleep.

—How did you decide on this years fund raising goal? Last year’s?
Last year I initially was only going for five. After my first letter I think I raised almost $3,000 and I decided, what the hell, I’ve got 6 more months, let’s go for double digits. As far as this year, I kind of just pulled it out of the air. I probably would have been more prudent sticking with the same or maybe going for $15,000, but I don’t feel like I have anything to lose by aiming high (except for maybe a little blow to my ego). This year is going to be more challenging because people know that I can actually run a marathon so I think that effects the fundraising. But, I’m planning on some other things – more outreach to my hometown local organizations, a few events, and a more organized E-bay bum auction.

—What is the key to maintaining momentum?
Setting up a plan/calendar for whatever you’re doing helps immensely. I send updates roughly every 3-4 weeks or around training and fundraising milestones like big races. If you give yourself little deadlines, it makes it less likely that you’ll find yourself waiting until the last minute.

Also, I really really try to keep my blog enjoyable/fun to read, and not completely focused on “give me your money!” (although that is of course is the end goal). Most of the people I’m writing to are probably never going to run a marathon or similar so I really try to write about things that are inspiring, exciting, frustrating – a genuine account of my experience doing this. Then I hope that people find the stories interesting. I think when that happens, people are more than happy to contribute.

—What do you credit most for your success?
There’s a lot of little things – a self-depreciating sense of humor, a broad email list full of good people, a great charity all have something to do with it. But I’d give the most credit to doing something I’m very passionate about and really believe in. Even though all this began because of something of very sad and painful, the “ripple effect” of good things and how many people have been touched as a result…all the people donating, and reading the blog, helping other people fund raise, makes me very proud. Being the catalyst for all that was something I could personally could do to (for lack of a better term) honor our friendship and helped me deal with Bouv’s death in the best possible way I could.

And where ever he is, I’m sure he gets a good laugh at the sight of me out running every Saturday morning. I usually do.

—Can’t follow that up with anything except, thanks so much Jen!