Run Across Kansas

For quite a few years I've wanted to do some kind of
charity fundraiser. Never have because other things in my life got in
the way; work, school, whatever other excuse I could come up with at
the time. It was quickly becoming one of those things I'd always want
to do but never actually get around to doing. With med school on the
horizon (hopefully!) I could see no way I'd get around to doing
something in the next, oh, 10 years. So, I decided it was time to
figure something out. Running seemed natural for me, although a pub
crawl would also be pretty natural. I knew I needed something most
people would think comes with a high degree of mental instability
(trail nerds excluded, of course) but that I knew I could handle. For
some reason I got the idea of running across the state. Figuring that
was dumb I dismissed it for a while, then I started seriously thinking
about what it would take. After a while it didn't seem so
unrealistic.

So, there you go, I'm going to run across Kansas as a fundraiser for
the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. 7 days (okay, maybe 8, haven't
decided that yet), approx 55 miles per day, mostly along US-36. March
7th - 13th, 2009...heck of a way to spend my spring break. Yes, I
know 7 back-to-back 50-milers is pretty crazy.

Why'd I choose the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network? Well, I'm pretty
fortunate in that none of my family or close friends have been
affected by any specific condition that I could run for. I looked at
various other charities, talked to a few, finally decided on them.
I'm not really sure what pushed me that way, maybe meeting some folks
at the hospital who were fighting it.

My friends and family think it's a really cool idea. One of my
friends, Jeremiah (my best friend since first grade and the guy who
got me into running) thought it was so cool he has decided to run with
me, in support of another charity. Now there's two of us. I've had
several people tell me they'd run a few miles, or even an entire day
with us, which I think is exciting.

I just registered the website yesterday and threw up some text as a
placeholder until we get the site designed.

http://www.runacrosskansas.com

That's all for now.