Note: we are keeping a blog at www.wewillfindacure.com. This is copied from our website but I want to make sure you know to visit our main site tied to #Road2Kona.
A lot happened on the #Road2Kona this week and I believe the most important is a development that allows 'you'.....yes I mean you..... to join the journey and raise money on your own. We will announce more details this week but this news ties to a Community Team. Beyond my personal fundraising page, you will be allowed to create your own site and raise money however you choose. You can choose to do a sporting event, send letters and emails, hold a car wash………..however you choose to spread the word and for whomever you choose to spread the word. There is no minimum. You can raise $25 or $2,500………whatever the total it will be considered a part of the We Will Find a Cure total that is generated for the Ironman World Championship. Once we finalize our t-shirts, I will be sending a shirt to everyone that raises $250.
As far as fundraising goes, we had a good week. Someone stepped up with an offer to match up to $2,500 through today, April 16th. We have raised $2,450 as of my typing this post so we are very close although I did see the $2,500 anonymous donation come through so I suppose they exercised some faith in us. If you check out our fundraising page, we cleared $10,000 and technically there is another $5,500 of match that is on the way but I would rather count the matches once they hit. A huge thank you to everyone that donated this week to help us achieve success. I am truly grateful. While this is a great start, we have a long way to go and I absolutely cannot do this on my own. This journey needs support via financial donations, spreading the word, getting press, items/experiences we can auction off, etc. Please visit Ways to Help to learn more.
Other things I would consider wins this week are:
- a local magazine, Fountain Valley Living, returned my phone call and is considering my story for the June edition.
- my daughters elementary school is going to include my story in their weekly email in a few weeks.
- a friend of mine works at Compass, a technologically driven Real Estate Company. They offered some philanthropic help and my friend is going to push the virtual option for our 5K once we are up an running. The 5K, and especially the virtual option, has a chance to be one of our biggest fundraising ideas.
- our new logo should be close to complete which will allow us to finalize the t-shirts and the 5K. Our live option will be held at the end of the summer but the virtual option can launch immediately.
On a training front, it is more of the same. I still have another 40 minutes to put in on the trainer. If you assume a 16.5 mph pace I will close the week at 186 miles. My coach went a little heavy on the bike this week and scaled back the run which was probably genius to allow my ankle to feel better. Same as the last few weeks, I have struggled with pain. Frustration set in this week so I simply cut
out my walk breaks starting with my Friday run. I would not say it is a smart move but I honestly am not sure. I am so far removed from surgery that the pain is a mystery. I have taken it so easy that it would not make any sense this is still a tendon issue. I have had many MRI’s on the surgical site and the tendon appears fine. My theory is to run in a manner I was always accustomed to and pray that things will work itself out. I believe I said this in a prior post but I have to put this race in God’s hands. If I am meant to get to the start line, it will happen. I just have to put in the miles and raise the money……..the money being by far the most important.
out my walk breaks starting with my Friday run. I would not say it is a smart move but I honestly am not sure. I am so far removed from surgery that the pain is a mystery. I have taken it so easy that it would not make any sense this is still a tendon issue. I have had many MRI’s on the surgical site and the tendon appears fine. My theory is to run in a manner I was always accustomed to and pray that things will work itself out. I believe I said this in a prior post but I have to put this race in God’s hands. If I am meant to get to the start line, it will happen. I just have to put in the miles and raise the money……..the money being by far the most important.
One last thing before I sign off. I was able to meet the Orange County IronTeam Saturday night thanks to an invite from coach Monica Jan. My family and I visited where they were camping out this weekend and I provided a Mission Moment. It was nice to share my story with folks that had never heard it before. As you would expect, it was a great group of people that are giving up their time to make a difference in this world. To close out my talk I used a quote from Nelson Mandela which is really sticking with me on a daily basis these days. It is included at my fundraising page:
“IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT IS DONE”
This quote can apply to so many things in all of our lives. How many things have you accomplished that you never thought possible? Most of what I have done since my father’s diagnosis would have been on that list. A cure for cancer might sound impossible but I believe we can get it done. We can change the world………….I just need you to join me.
Christopher D. Wilno
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