Round two.
Well last week I went into what I was setting out to do. This week I'm going to delve into the how.
Think I'll start with the charity side of things, since I have already had a few people ask about how to donate or when the donations are going to start. I plan on using the Janus Charity Challenge to set up my donation site. The really cool thing about the Janus Charity Challenge is that it lends us the opportunity to add some more money to our donation at the end of this thing. See Janus has a small competition going at each race between the people trying to raise money for each of their respective charities. The top 50 get bonus money added onto their donations. Here is the list from the Janus website:
As a reflection of our commitment to the program and the athlete’s efforts, Janus makes additional contributions to the beneficiaries of the 50 top fundraisers at each race in the following amounts:
1st Place Individual : $10,000 donation
2nd Place Individual : $8,000 donation
3rd Place Individual : $6,000 donation
4th Place Individual : $4,000 donation
5th Place Individual : $2,000 donation
The beneficiaries of the next 30 highest fundraisers who raise a minimum of $750.00 will receive an additional contribution of $750.00 from Janus.
The beneficiaries of the next 15 highest fundraisers who raise a minimum of $500.00 will receive an additional contribution of $100.00 from Janus.
They will also allow me to have a donation web page on their site that will allow for completely safe and secure online donations to the charity of my choice, which of course is the NODCC. I won't be able to set up my site until I'm registered for Ironman Florida 2010 (IMF) and Janus is set up for next years race. I will register for IMF the day after this years race on November 7th. I have already signed up to volunteer for this years race. By volunteering I will have a slot saved for me in next years race. That way I don't have to worry about the race selling out and me not being able to get in. I'm really looking forward to volunteering. I'm driving up with a group of friends, some of which will be attempting the race next year as well. Super excited about that trip!!!
Once the charity site is setup, I will contact the NODCC and see what they can do to raise awareness to our little adventure.
As far as the IM race itself, well that's going to be a little harder. I'll probably start developing my training program over the next couple of months and running it by the wife (it's going to take up a bunch of time). Hoping to include a marathon, Half-Ironman Florida, and at least a couple of 100 mile bike rides in my training for the big one. I'll have plenty of support from my family, friends and great group that I belong too, the Treasure Coast Triathletes.
A quick update on Cody!! He got his new hearing aids last Friday. We found out a few months ago that his hearing in both ears is severely impaired. They are working great so far, he talks a little quieter, his speech is improving and he has been keeping them in his ears, which I thought was going to be the biggest problem. The hearing aids are actually made by the same company I work for, Siemens. I've been really impressed with everything so far. Hopefully it all continues to go well.
