Running With Tommy
Donation protected
The Bet:
About 8 weeks ago, after many adult beverages at Jon and Tanya Avella's going away party, a challenge was presented. Tim Mitchell was convinced that there was NO CHANCE that I could beat him in a marathon. He frequents the gym, he participates in many sports, and simply put, I don’t. I’m also not sure either of us have ever run more than 3 miles at a time before.
(Tim and I, taken about 70 years ago.)
Now, I try not to make random bets that I don’t feel like I have an edge in, and I have a pretty good recent track record so far (1-0, eh Byron? Go Cubs!), so I accepted the bet. I think I’m a healthy enough guy, and I used to play the saxophone, so I imagine that gives me a super-human lung capacity (nope). At this point neither of us even knew when the San Diego Marathon was. Someone looked it up, and the Rock N Roll Marathon was June 4th, 19 weeks away. I can’t remember which of us brought up the initial stakes (remember, adult beverages), but the prize for the winner would be a hefty one: $1,000.
Waking up the next morning, the first thought that popped in my head was “Oh God”. “What have I done?” I went straight to google, and typed in “tips for running a marathon”. One of the first links I found listed this as their advice for tip number 1: DONT DO IT. Once again, “Oh God”.
I gave it a few days. I saw Tim at work Wednesday. We made small talk about the bet. I asked him if he wanted to run a half-marathon. I said it would be more fun. We both might actually finish. It could possibly be competitive at the end and thus more fun. He wasn’t backing down. He said he would probably never enter another race again in his life, so he had to make it the full marathon. Once again, “Oh God”.
(Probably the last picture ever with us both smiling.)
The next few days as I spent time online researching how to get started, I started reading about people raising money for charities through running marathons. I wasn’t quite sure how it worked; are they donating per mile? is it a recurring donation? Both of these were wrong. The runners that were best at raising money for their charities treated it as a give and take. They update their friends and family on how their training is going, showing them how serious they were taking it, and use the money being raised as extra motivation to keep going and train harder and harder.
Last November, I lost my cousin Tommy to pancreatic cancer. He found out he had cancer in December of 2015. 11 months later he was gone. I was fortunate to see Tommy twice in person during those 11 months and hug him a few last times. I don't want to get into a lot right now, but the purpose of this format for raising money is so I can share some stories with everyone through the next 11 weeks.
I’m using Go Fund Me as the platform because there are actually 2 important charities that I’d like to divide the money raised between. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is the first obvious choice, as they are the global leader in the fight against pancreatic cancer with a goal to double patient survival rates by 2020. Their website is PanCan.org .
The second charity is Imerman Angels. The Imerman Angels are a group that works to partner newly diagnosed patients with other patients of the same diagnosis that might be a little farther along, so they can keep in touch and help each other get through what they are going through. Tommy was hooked up with his mentor, another pancreatic cancer patient, JF, that lives in Orange County, CA. JF had been going through the treatment that Tommy was going to go through. JF helped prepare Tommy and the two spoke frequently. Tommy would tell me he was looking forward to being healthy enough to travel to California so he could visit JF, and get together with us while he was out here since we’d be so close. That dream never became a reality, but there was always hope there for one another to keep fighting. JF is still fighting right now. More information can be found at ImermanAngels.org .
Jenny and I are kicking off our fundraising goal with a $250 donation towards our goal of $1500. Win or lose the bet, this race for me is now 100% about Tommy, and doing what I can to help others, however small that may be. For those of you that don’t run, running is very boring lol. I run 4 days a week, and many of my runs are at least an hour. This gives me a lot of time to reflect, and talk to Tommy, and catch up with him to let him know how we’re doing. I want to make his 2 sisters proud, so thank you in advance for your help with this fundraiser.
Tommy, always had a game with him.

A few pictures with my sister Meggie.

With his brother in law, Bob.

And his niece and 1 of his nephews.

Tommy's immediate family.

Just some cool dudes walking around Seattle (Me, Tommy, and my brother in law, Vinny).

And one from the way back machine!

Oh, and in case you haven’t figured out yet, I’m taking my training VERY seriously, and I can’t wait to share with you what I have been and am doing! 7 weeks completed and 11 more to go!
Jenny's running the 1/2 marathon the same day!

Running in the rain. Can't stop wont stop. 7 mile day.

We started going to yoga to work on our breathing and stretching.

You can't handle this.

I'm running. A lot.

Lot's of running.

And more running.

And more running.

And more running.

Thank you for following along!

WAIT!!!!!!
Before you leave.....Please donate!
Thanks :)
About 8 weeks ago, after many adult beverages at Jon and Tanya Avella's going away party, a challenge was presented. Tim Mitchell was convinced that there was NO CHANCE that I could beat him in a marathon. He frequents the gym, he participates in many sports, and simply put, I don’t. I’m also not sure either of us have ever run more than 3 miles at a time before.
(Tim and I, taken about 70 years ago.)Now, I try not to make random bets that I don’t feel like I have an edge in, and I have a pretty good recent track record so far (1-0, eh Byron? Go Cubs!), so I accepted the bet. I think I’m a healthy enough guy, and I used to play the saxophone, so I imagine that gives me a super-human lung capacity (nope). At this point neither of us even knew when the San Diego Marathon was. Someone looked it up, and the Rock N Roll Marathon was June 4th, 19 weeks away. I can’t remember which of us brought up the initial stakes (remember, adult beverages), but the prize for the winner would be a hefty one: $1,000.
Waking up the next morning, the first thought that popped in my head was “Oh God”. “What have I done?” I went straight to google, and typed in “tips for running a marathon”. One of the first links I found listed this as their advice for tip number 1: DONT DO IT. Once again, “Oh God”.
I gave it a few days. I saw Tim at work Wednesday. We made small talk about the bet. I asked him if he wanted to run a half-marathon. I said it would be more fun. We both might actually finish. It could possibly be competitive at the end and thus more fun. He wasn’t backing down. He said he would probably never enter another race again in his life, so he had to make it the full marathon. Once again, “Oh God”.
(Probably the last picture ever with us both smiling.)The next few days as I spent time online researching how to get started, I started reading about people raising money for charities through running marathons. I wasn’t quite sure how it worked; are they donating per mile? is it a recurring donation? Both of these were wrong. The runners that were best at raising money for their charities treated it as a give and take. They update their friends and family on how their training is going, showing them how serious they were taking it, and use the money being raised as extra motivation to keep going and train harder and harder.
Last November, I lost my cousin Tommy to pancreatic cancer. He found out he had cancer in December of 2015. 11 months later he was gone. I was fortunate to see Tommy twice in person during those 11 months and hug him a few last times. I don't want to get into a lot right now, but the purpose of this format for raising money is so I can share some stories with everyone through the next 11 weeks.
I’m using Go Fund Me as the platform because there are actually 2 important charities that I’d like to divide the money raised between. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is the first obvious choice, as they are the global leader in the fight against pancreatic cancer with a goal to double patient survival rates by 2020. Their website is PanCan.org .
The second charity is Imerman Angels. The Imerman Angels are a group that works to partner newly diagnosed patients with other patients of the same diagnosis that might be a little farther along, so they can keep in touch and help each other get through what they are going through. Tommy was hooked up with his mentor, another pancreatic cancer patient, JF, that lives in Orange County, CA. JF had been going through the treatment that Tommy was going to go through. JF helped prepare Tommy and the two spoke frequently. Tommy would tell me he was looking forward to being healthy enough to travel to California so he could visit JF, and get together with us while he was out here since we’d be so close. That dream never became a reality, but there was always hope there for one another to keep fighting. JF is still fighting right now. More information can be found at ImermanAngels.org .
Jenny and I are kicking off our fundraising goal with a $250 donation towards our goal of $1500. Win or lose the bet, this race for me is now 100% about Tommy, and doing what I can to help others, however small that may be. For those of you that don’t run, running is very boring lol. I run 4 days a week, and many of my runs are at least an hour. This gives me a lot of time to reflect, and talk to Tommy, and catch up with him to let him know how we’re doing. I want to make his 2 sisters proud, so thank you in advance for your help with this fundraiser.
Tommy, always had a game with him.
A few pictures with my sister Meggie.
With his brother in law, Bob.
And his niece and 1 of his nephews.
Tommy's immediate family.
Just some cool dudes walking around Seattle (Me, Tommy, and my brother in law, Vinny).
And one from the way back machine!
Oh, and in case you haven’t figured out yet, I’m taking my training VERY seriously, and I can’t wait to share with you what I have been and am doing! 7 weeks completed and 11 more to go!
Jenny's running the 1/2 marathon the same day!
Running in the rain. Can't stop wont stop. 7 mile day.
We started going to yoga to work on our breathing and stretching.
You can't handle this.
I'm running. A lot.
Lot's of running.
And more running.
And more running.
And more running.
Thank you for following along!
WAIT!!!!!!
Before you leave.....Please donate!
Thanks :)
Organizer
Cash Freeman
Organizer
San Marcos, CA
