UPDATE October 20: I did it! I ran the MEC Race 7 Marathon yesterday. With purple tutu and hair as promised. Lots of comments and clapping when I met or passed people on the path. I had a great run up to 34 km when I hit the wall. My run/walk interval dropped from my planned 30/1 ratio to about 4/1 over the last 6 km. But I mustered up a "sprint" for the last few hundred meters. It was a tough finish. A little stiff today :-). But worth every ache and pain. MEC did an awesome job of organizing the run. And all of you did an AWESOME job of helping me raise money for LLSC. When corporate matching dollars are all accounted for from our various companies, we'll have raised over $9000! GREAT JOB PEOPLE!!! (Check out my pics.)
UPDATE October 17: Made it! Over $5000 raised for LLSC; great work people! And yup, Edgar and I are now sporting snazzy purple hairdos. Went for my final short run before my marathon on Sunday. Got a few strange looks from people on the street. Purple hair may go unnoticed in a Calgary mall but it's a rare sight in Hanna Alberta!
UPDATE Ocotber 16: A friend and coworker has offered most graciously to sacrifice his silver-grey locks to be dyed purple along with me in support of my cause if my goal of $5000 is reached before 4:00 pm October 17. And now we're only a few $100 away from the goal. AMAZING! I'm overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of my friends, family and coworkers. I'm truly blessed to have people like you in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Spread the word quickly, let's get another purple hairdo done!
UPDATE October 7: AWESOME EVERYONE!!! We've hit my "Tutu Challenge" goal of $3600! I'm a man of my word. Today I picked up a cute little purple tutu and tomorrow I'll book an appointment for a purple hair dye job. But please don't stop donating and tell everyone you know about this campaign. You will noticed I've raised my fundraising goal again, substantially, encouraging everyone to continue to donate and be part of something great! And I thank you, from the bottom of my purple heart!
UPDATE October 4: Great work everyone! You've rose to the "Tutu For Dean" challenge. I'm just $500 shy of a pretty little ballerina outfit! ( :-P ... this is going to be embarrassing...) Another 5-10 generous donations and I'll be shopping for a cute purple tutu and booking an appointment at a hairdresser's for a purple dye job!
UPDATE September 28: Ran my longest training run today; 32 km, out and back north of town. The "back" was tough. Into the wind. Like my Grandfather used to say, "A southeast wind is cold, doesn't matter which way it blows." Now I'll taper until Race Day. But let's not taper on the fundraising, folks! Just $1000 to go and I'm purple!!!
UPDATE September 24: COLOR ME PURPLE!!! Read below to see how and why...
UPDATE September 18: AWESOME!!! I reached my original fundraising goal of $1800 thanks to the help of many friends, family and coworkers. Thank you everyone! Now for the surprise I promised; my original target goal was $1800. If my fundraising total reaches double of my original target goal ($3600) I pledge to die my hair purple and complete my marathon wearing a purple tutu. Yea, that's right. A tutu. Humiliating for a macho guy like me but for $3600 raised for LLSC it will be worth it. So come on folks, tell your friends, family and coworkers about this and let's see if we can color me purple! A TUTU FOR DEAN!!!
UPDATE September 14: Five weeks to go until Race Day! I've stuck to my training plan; a 29 km training run today. Didn't go as planned but I persevered; I'm going to do this! 80% of my fundraising goal has been reached. If we reach 100% I have a further surprise in store for all those that have donated to my fundraising effort... stay tuned!
ORIGINAL POST:
As you may know if you've visited my page before, I am training to participate in the MEC Marathon in Calgary on October 19, 2014 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada’s Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training raise funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I’m completing this event in honour of my Dad. I've never ran a marathon. Knowing what my Dad went through in his battle with leukemia it seems to me a marathon is an appropriate test of endurance for me to honour him. In 1989 my dad was diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome Positive Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia. Although it was caught early during a routine blood screen for his driver’s license medical, his prognosis was poor. In those years he was considered too old to receive bone marrow transplant therapy. And the only known suitable donor was a brother who was much older than Dad and was also considered an unsuitable donor due to age. During the first year after diagnosis, it appeared drug therapy wasn’t working as expected so it seemed Dad’s fate was sealed. Our oldest daughter, his first grandchild, was born that year. I could go on and on about our family’s experiences that year, the emotional highs and lows, but to make the story short, Dad was eventually approved for the transplant on an experimental basis with his brother as the donor. His treatment program was successful and he’s still alive and kicking today, fourteen grandchildren later. The money I’m hoping to raise is, thankfully, not in memoriam but in celebration, knowing that leukemia and lymphoma cancers can be beaten and in the hope that the efforts made in our campaigns will help to bring others to be able to tell their stories of victory. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - the cure! Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLSC’s mission. I hope you’ll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!