Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present, MoMA.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Hi everyone.
Long story, please bear with me.
As some of you may know, last year I started running - for pretty much the first time since junior high. No real reason, other than that I'd always kind of wanted to, and I'm the kind of person who, unless I just jump in with both feet and do something, will just sit there and talk about it for the rest of my life.
My ultimate goal was to run in the the New York City Marathon, which crosses my path every year, and which always seemed like would be quite an accomplishment. Late last year, after one particularly inspiring training session, I decided what the hell, and as more of a lark than anything, submitted my name for the lottery for the 2010 race.
I didn't get selected.
You can only imagine how relieved I was to hear that. I wasn't ready for that. I didn't want to train for that. I had other things to do, other things to think about. Thank god I didn't have to worry about this anymore.
And yet...
What did I want? Why did I bother to start training to begin with? What was I training for? What had been my ultimate goal from the start? Would this be yet another thing that I would just be sitting there talking about for the rest of my life?
Two days later, I went online and signed up for a team.
See, how this works is, if you don't get selected in the lottery, you can still run by joining a charity team. The catch is that in order to be able to run with the team, you need to raise X amount of dollars for that charity - in my case, $2500 (at least half of which needs to be raised by the beginning of September).
BUT, I chose a great charity: The Nick Rossomando 9/11 Memorial Scholarship Fund. Nick Rossomando was a fireman from Staten Island who was killed in the September 11th attacks. The fund was set up by his family in his memory and honor to award college scholarships to Staten Island students who are facing or have overcome adversity in their lives.
If you could give whatever you can, and share this with as many people as can take it, you'll be making an incredible difference in their lives, and mine. Please go to:
http://www.nicks911collegefund.org/sponsor_runner.html
put in your information and, most importantly, put my name, Mike Cho, in the "Name of runner you are sponsoring" box.
US residents: Nick's Fund is a 501 (c)(3) charity, and your donation is fully tax deductible under section 170 of the code. Non-US residents: please check with your local codes, etc. before donating if the deduction is a deal-breaker.
And when I say "please give what you can", I mean that in both directions - if you're living paycheck-to-paycheck lately, drowning in bills, trying to keep food on the table, etc., a simple word of encouragement the next time you see me and/or some good vibes on race day (Nov. 7) will mean the whole world to me, and I mean that. :)
Long story, please bear with me.
As some of you may know, last year I started running - for pretty much the first time since junior high. No real reason, other than that I'd always kind of wanted to, and I'm the kind of person who, unless I just jump in with both feet and do something, will just sit there and talk about it for the rest of my life.
My ultimate goal was to run in the the New York City Marathon, which crosses my path every year, and which always seemed like would be quite an accomplishment. Late last year, after one particularly inspiring training session, I decided what the hell, and as more of a lark than anything, submitted my name for the lottery for the 2010 race.
I didn't get selected.
You can only imagine how relieved I was to hear that. I wasn't ready for that. I didn't want to train for that. I had other things to do, other things to think about. Thank god I didn't have to worry about this anymore.
And yet...
What did I want? Why did I bother to start training to begin with? What was I training for? What had been my ultimate goal from the start? Would this be yet another thing that I would just be sitting there talking about for the rest of my life?
Two days later, I went online and signed up for a team.
See, how this works is, if you don't get selected in the lottery, you can still run by joining a charity team. The catch is that in order to be able to run with the team, you need to raise X amount of dollars for that charity - in my case, $2500 (at least half of which needs to be raised by the beginning of September).
BUT, I chose a great charity: The Nick Rossomando 9/11 Memorial Scholarship Fund. Nick Rossomando was a fireman from Staten Island who was killed in the September 11th attacks. The fund was set up by his family in his memory and honor to award college scholarships to Staten Island students who are facing or have overcome adversity in their lives.
If you could give whatever you can, and share this with as many people as can take it, you'll be making an incredible difference in their lives, and mine. Please go to:
http://www.nicks911collegefund.org/sponsor_runner.html
put in your information and, most importantly, put my name, Mike Cho, in the "Name of runner you are sponsoring" box.
US residents: Nick's Fund is a 501 (c)(3) charity, and your donation is fully tax deductible under section 170 of the code. Non-US residents: please check with your local codes, etc. before donating if the deduction is a deal-breaker.
And when I say "please give what you can", I mean that in both directions - if you're living paycheck-to-paycheck lately, drowning in bills, trying to keep food on the table, etc., a simple word of encouragement the next time you see me and/or some good vibes on race day (Nov. 7) will mean the whole world to me, and I mean that. :)
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