Today, I am writing to ask for your help and to pose a challenge:
Over the next few months I will be holding fundraising events and I am designing a t-shirt to sell. I need a snazzy tagline for my t-shirt and I am asking you smart and brilliant people to help me come up with something!
Please enter the "Super Coops T-shirt Contest" by sending your tagline ideas to me (sjcooper79@gmail.com)!
Here are the rules:
* Keep it clean, mostly. =) I'll be selling t-shirts to a lot of people and helping raise awareness for Bottom Line's mission to help underprivledged kids get into college and graduate.
* Send your tagline entries by Friday, December 4th!
* Entries will be judged on their snazziness by a completely biased panel of close friends, over several bottles of wine.
* To enter, please pledge a minimum of $8 per entry. You can enter more than one idea and donate more if you wish =) You can donate directly on my website: http://www.razoo.com/story/Super-Coop-Runs-The-Boston-Marathon
* Winners receive a free t-shirt, a big hug from me and the warmth in knowledge that they helped a kid go to college.
Thanks in advance for your help and support. My goal is to raise $9000, helping 3 students get into college and graduate. Any support is appreciated, in the form of money, encouragement or running partners!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Week 1
12 miles down, 537 training miles to go!
I just returned from my first training run with the Bottom Line team, Team Go Far. Throughout my brief running career, I've learned that anyone can run; if you are pig-headed enough; if you have some rockin' tunes; if you have some good meaty stuff to think through; if you have a couple of girlfriends with enough agenda items; if you simply decide to just do it.
Something else I've also learned: just because you CAN run, doesn't mean you are good at it. Case in point, today I was definitively trounced by our running coach's nine year-old, Ryder. Granted, Ryder is the son of two marathon training coaches and probably came out of the womb with a packet of goo in his hand. But that kid can run. This isn't new for me. During a half-marathon in October, I crossed the finish line a few minutes after a 75 year-old man that looked on death's door. I've also been passed on an uphill race by a grandfather pushing his handicapped grandson in a wheelchair. I mean, come on! So, I have a lot to improve upon.
Another thing,just because you can run, it really doesn't mean you look good doing it. Since I am facing a winter of running outside in freezing temperatures, I finally broke down and bought some running tights. I decided against these new-fangled compression tights, that supposedly reduce lactic acid build-up, increase oxygen to your muscles, enhance blood circulation and focus muscle power (um, seriously). Do you know how awful it is pouring yourself into these tights in the changing room and taking a good, hard look at your body. As you are staring at your 30 year-old body,and contemplating the horrific width of your derrier, you imagine running....outside! where people can see you! There aint' enough compression for my thighs, trust me.
I did end up getting tights, that are still frightening in their display, but I had to do it. For the kids. Never before have I justified wearing spandex for the sake of kids. But, there you have it.
So, the training begins. Spandex and all.
I leave you with one of the many students that I am running for:
Jeanine Harushingingo, North High School '10
Jeanine grew up on a refugee camp in Tanzania. Originally from Burundi, she fled her country with her family at age 3 when war broke out. Jeanine spent twelve years living on the refugee camp in crowded quarters with insufficient food.
Women in her country are offered little opportunity to pursue an education, and her parents originally told her that she could not go to school. Jeanine began secretly attending school and eventually stood up for her education and convinced her parents to support her.
Jeanine came to the United States less than 3 years ago not knowing any English and has since become the main support for her family who live with her in Worcester. Settling in the states has been difficult for them: Jeanine's mom was sick and they often struggle to pay bills and rent. Jeanine was able to manage the household, work her way into North High School from a school for new immigrants, learn English, and earn a 3.8 GPA in honors classes. Now in her senior year, she is determined to go to college and study international relations so she can return home and help people in Africa. She plans to apply to Clark University, UMass Dartmouth, and Wheaton College, among others.
I just returned from my first training run with the Bottom Line team, Team Go Far. Throughout my brief running career, I've learned that anyone can run; if you are pig-headed enough; if you have some rockin' tunes; if you have some good meaty stuff to think through; if you have a couple of girlfriends with enough agenda items; if you simply decide to just do it.
Something else I've also learned: just because you CAN run, doesn't mean you are good at it. Case in point, today I was definitively trounced by our running coach's nine year-old, Ryder. Granted, Ryder is the son of two marathon training coaches and probably came out of the womb with a packet of goo in his hand. But that kid can run. This isn't new for me. During a half-marathon in October, I crossed the finish line a few minutes after a 75 year-old man that looked on death's door. I've also been passed on an uphill race by a grandfather pushing his handicapped grandson in a wheelchair. I mean, come on! So, I have a lot to improve upon.
Another thing,just because you can run, it really doesn't mean you look good doing it. Since I am facing a winter of running outside in freezing temperatures, I finally broke down and bought some running tights. I decided against these new-fangled compression tights, that supposedly reduce lactic acid build-up, increase oxygen to your muscles, enhance blood circulation and focus muscle power (um, seriously). Do you know how awful it is pouring yourself into these tights in the changing room and taking a good, hard look at your body. As you are staring at your 30 year-old body,and contemplating the horrific width of your derrier, you imagine running....outside! where people can see you! There aint' enough compression for my thighs, trust me.
I did end up getting tights, that are still frightening in their display, but I had to do it. For the kids. Never before have I justified wearing spandex for the sake of kids. But, there you have it.
So, the training begins. Spandex and all.
I leave you with one of the many students that I am running for:
Jeanine Harushingingo, North High School '10
Jeanine grew up on a refugee camp in Tanzania. Originally from Burundi, she fled her country with her family at age 3 when war broke out. Jeanine spent twelve years living on the refugee camp in crowded quarters with insufficient food.
Women in her country are offered little opportunity to pursue an education, and her parents originally told her that she could not go to school. Jeanine began secretly attending school and eventually stood up for her education and convinced her parents to support her.
Jeanine came to the United States less than 3 years ago not knowing any English and has since become the main support for her family who live with her in Worcester. Settling in the states has been difficult for them: Jeanine's mom was sick and they often struggle to pay bills and rent. Jeanine was able to manage the household, work her way into North High School from a school for new immigrants, learn English, and earn a 3.8 GPA in honors classes. Now in her senior year, she is determined to go to college and study international relations so she can return home and help people in Africa. She plans to apply to Clark University, UMass Dartmouth, and Wheaton College, among others.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Super Coop Runs the Boston Marathon
154 days.
549 miles of training in the dead of winter.
26.2 miles of the 2010 wicked pissah Boston Marathon.
Remember college? Yeah, it was great. Well, only 36% of Boston high school students go to college and earn a degree. That really bothers me. It bothers me so much that I am going to spend the next five months running a lot of miles, in the snow and freezing cold, to help raise money for Bottom Line.
Bottom Line helps students apply to college; supporting them through all the daunting application materials, student loan and scholarship applications and application fees. They also support students once they are in college, ensuring that students have support, don't give up and succeed. 74% of Bottom Line students graduate from college. That's 38% more than Boston Public School students.
We should all have this support. But, the truth is, we don't.
I am asking you to get involved, donate, and help these kids go to college. It's important. It really is. In return, I will drag my sad, sorry 30-year old tukush out of bed over the next 154 days and run in the wind, snow and nor'easters to make sure that Bottom Line students have one more supporter that is routing for them and their journey.
Donate:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Super-Coop-Runs-The-Boston-Marathon
More info, here: http://www.bottomline.org/
549 miles of training in the dead of winter.
26.2 miles of the 2010 wicked pissah Boston Marathon.
Remember college? Yeah, it was great. Well, only 36% of Boston high school students go to college and earn a degree. That really bothers me. It bothers me so much that I am going to spend the next five months running a lot of miles, in the snow and freezing cold, to help raise money for Bottom Line.
Bottom Line helps students apply to college; supporting them through all the daunting application materials, student loan and scholarship applications and application fees. They also support students once they are in college, ensuring that students have support, don't give up and succeed. 74% of Bottom Line students graduate from college. That's 38% more than Boston Public School students.
We should all have this support. But, the truth is, we don't.
I am asking you to get involved, donate, and help these kids go to college. It's important. It really is. In return, I will drag my sad, sorry 30-year old tukush out of bed over the next 154 days and run in the wind, snow and nor'easters to make sure that Bottom Line students have one more supporter that is routing for them and their journey.
Donate:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Super-Coop-Runs-The-Boston-Marathon
More info, here: http://www.bottomline.org/
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