The turn-out was great for our Beef N’ Beer last night. We raised a bunch of money towards our goal. Raffle prizes were won and yes, without further adieu…. I got a mohawk…

A big thank you to Leah Allen for keeping all those head shavers between the lines and a huge thank you to the organizations and individuals that were kind enough to donate raffle prizes!

• Performance Health & Chiropractic
• With Heart & Healing Hands
• Battleship New Jersey
• Philadelphia Independence Seaport Museum
• Frankie “The Answer” Edgar
• The Philadelphia Phillies

Tonight, Abbe and I will be heading to Reading, PA for our next fundraiser, Dinner at The Works. If we get 30 people to show up this evening we receive 10% of the entire dining room bill as a donation, otherwise – we get zilch! So this is a big night for us, we think this could very well be our largest fundraiser in terms of dollars raised! That said, the homestretch is looking like it will be very tough. We have until December 19th to reach $11,000 and we are currently sitting at $7506 (the Beef N’ Beer should put us over $8000).

If you would care to donate to LLS and help us in our fight against blood cancers, please do so. If you are unable to give, please consider simply sharing or retweeting this post so others may do so.

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You did it son, straight A’s for the first time. You did it while playing soccer and ice hockey, the later is probably the most time demanding sport available to a 10 year old. You did all of this with very little complaint if any at all.

Last week, while we were visiting the Mecks for Thanksgiving, Bubs and I were out back at Bruce and Jane’s home – me pitching wiffle balls to Bubs while he swatted balls into the pines. I would chase them down for him again and again and at one point he said, “It’s pretty cool having a marathoner for a Dad because you never get tired chasing all these homeruns I’m hitting.”

It’s pretty cool having you as a son too, kiddo. I love you Bubs with all my heart, always. And I’ll never tire chasing those homeruns.

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Folks, it’s getting towards desperation time for the fundraising… We are at 57% of our goal as a team and have $4,709 to go by December 16th. In a somewhat pointed post yesterday, I mentioned Abbe, Bill, and I will be charged that difference if we do not hit that number.

Needless to say, we need your help. I will repeat what I said when I posted the last video a couple weeks ago – if you can donate, even a small amount, please do – if not PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share this video. The last video was only shared twice and both by current donors. Clicking that share button on this blog post costs you nothing and perhaps gives a chance to someone that wants to help a means to do so.

Check out a video taken during our 17 mile run around Kelly Drive in Philadelphia yesterday…

And I also decided, to take a photo at every mile to see how different we look between mile 1 and mile 17… and it appears we are exactly the same goof asses, just a little sweatier…

And here’s us running up the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Art Museum… forgive the huffing and puffing, this was at the very end of the 17 miles!

Movie Reviews…

Human Centipede – this film had a lot of parallels with The Notebook… except Ryan Gosling’s face wasn’t sewn to Rachel McAdams’ ass. But other than that, very similar.

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Abbe, Bill, and I are at 57% of our fundraising goal for LLS (we have raised $6291.50 towards our goal of $11,000). Today, Abbe and I are about to head out to Kelley Drive in Philadelphia for one of our longest training runs, 17 miles and I was struck by something a friend said to me when I mentioned our progress and they said they were not planning on donating because they felt we were raising money to go on a vacation to Disney… I stood there slack-jawed, but thought to myself, “don’t yell at this person, they are really asking a question.”

So I thought I’d spend today answering a couple of the questions we have been asked about why we are running.

Aren’t you doing this just for a vacation?

First, let me break down what is covered by the money we raise: hotel accommodations for the required time to register, prepare, and run – this is two days prior to the full and one day prior to the half we will be running; our registration for the race; the victory dinner. Disney gives us one free day at one park the day after we finish running 39.3 miles over two days. And then, oh wait… that’s it. We pay for our own air fare. Any extra days we spend at the parks is on us. Meals are on us. Last year, I was amazed at the runner’s expo had zero free samples – we were hoping to get a couple of Gu packets or something. So please, please if this is a question that is on anyone’s mind – rest assured, we are not doing this for a vacation. Remember, we are running almost 40 miles to raise money to fight blood cancers. Abbe and I are not wealthy people by any stretch of the imagination, this costs us a lot to get here even with the fundraising. Also, did you know that if we do not hit our fundraising goal by December 16th, the balance will be charged to us?

Aren’t you co-opting another’s illness for your own sort of internet fame?

First off, Alayna is beating leukemia and Abbe and I spoke with her father about running in her honor. If there was ever a hesitation on their part, we would still run I’m sure, but we will always honor the wishes of the families we run in honor of, always. This year I will have a new name written on my shoe at Disney – Aunt Bee. A fellow blogger contacted me with that request and I am very proud to do so. But back to that question, look at any video, blog post, newspaper article we have ever done – the message is consistent. We are running for Alayna, we are running for everyone that has lost someone or is in the fight of their lives against cancer.

As far self interest in running a marathon, yes I’ve dropped 30 pounds in the process and I feel better at 40 than I did at 20. But no one needs to run a marathon to lose even that much weight. I would be happy running 3 and 5 miles and feel great too. If there is anything in this for me that could be considered self-interest, it’s that I am teaching my children something that doing something for others is a very good thing. And if that bugs you, well… sorry.

And one last thought folks and I want this to sink in. This past Black Friday, the news was filled with stories of people camping out in advance of stores opening their doors and incredible acts of violence all in the name to spend money for the holidays. Shootings, stun guns, pepper spray, bomb threats, and people were getting trampled all in the name of being a good consumer. When are you folks going to get this upset to save lives? When are you going to camp out for the chance to give?

It’s time folks. We are ready - join us in something good this year. Even $5 and $10 donations help. If you can give, please do – if not, please share this post with others. Ok, time to run!

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So, if a Dad gushing over how proud he is of his son bugs you – you should probably find another blog post to read today…

See this? This is a kid enjoying the products of his hard work…

That is Bubs in his report card prize, some new Bauer Vapors – which are decent, but not lavish skates by any stretch. But to a kid that was wearing skates two sizes too small, they are the best thing ever.

His grades will be finalized next Wednesday and he has straight A’s except one class, Social Studies – which he is one point away from an A. He has a chance to get that A with a homework assignment or a quiz. Even if he doesn’t hit the perfect report card – his work has been extraordinary this marking period. Not only has his grades been awesome, but he is also playing soccer and ice hockey. He is learning how to organize himself and doing it without much complaining.

On top of that, I also received a letter from the BOE yesterday informing us that Bubs is going to get an award for his perfect score in Science on the NJASK last year (a test given to all NJ students in 4th and 8th grade). And I’m not done yet…

Last night at practice, one of the parents of his teammates came out of the boys’ locker room asking the parent next to me, “Do you know who number 7 is?”
“Yeah, that’s Van.”
And before I could claim #7 as my little dude…
“What a sweet kid, he came into the locker room and gave the coach the nicest apology for getting upset at the last game.”

I was beaming with pride. I was upset with Bubs for his complaining from the last game. Some familiar words came to mind… life grades on a curve. But hey, this is all part of why sports are so great for kids – those mistakes and improvements make these young men better hockey players and human beings.

Oh and on top of all of that greatness, karma smiled on me that day – while Abbe was cleaning our bookshelves, a $100 bill was found stashed in an old Christmas present from my parents… oddly enough almost the exact price for those skates.

Continuing on the good stuff motif… Team All for Layna received our largest ever donation and now, the team is at nearly 40% (up from 24% last week) and I am now at 50%! I can not wait to go out in this cold, rainy weather and run today. And with Black Friday approaching, I want you to consider skipping your coffee at Starbucks that morning and having a cup at home instead. Why $5? What good would that do for a cancer patient?

$5 can get you a latte at Starbucks or a beer at the local bar, but to see how $5 makes an impact for cancer patients, check out how every dollar really does count:

• If 2 people gimme 5…$10 provides two hours of microscope use to determine if a new medicine will stop a life-threatening lung infection in a bone marrow transplant patient.
• 4 people…$20 pays for a bottle of nutrients that will nourish 10 million leukemia cells grown in the laboratory for a week, enabling scientists to test whether a new anti-cancer drug halts their growth.
• 8 people…$40 purchases enough razor-sharp blades to prepare bone-marrow biopsy samples from 200 patients, enabling doctors to make accurate cancer diagnoses.
• 20 people….$100 pays for the cost of an antibody used to determine the precise characteristics of lymphoma cells, allowing doctors to determine the best treatment for a patient.
• 50 people…$250 buys an instrument to measure tiny volumes of liquid, which allows scientists to accurately measure the solutions needed to prepare a patient sample for a diagnostic test.
• 100 people…$500 purchases 10 hours of time on a flow cytometer, a machine that reveals a multitude of characteristics of blood cancer cells that could be developed into effective diagnostic tests.

Movie Review…

X-Men: First Class – this was probably the best super hero film I’ve seen. That’s not high praise by any stretch, but this film was decent.

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