Hello all!
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Larry - an ex-high school athlete
(baseball & football
) and formerly of the overweight professional variety. New to the triathlon community...
My journey into triathlons started on a whim...
Back in October, a few buddies and I were volunteering at Give Kids the World in Orlando, FL. They mentioned they were expanding and had a few people running the Disney Marathon, taking pledges and donating the money.
My buddy Michael goes, "Shoot, we can do better than that ... we're going to do the Half Ironman." More as a joke than anything. But Nathan and I kind of looked at him and said, yeah, we're in.
Since then, we trained to get ready for a training program
(we were that out of shape
) and have been on a formal training program since January. We're now less than a month out.
Since October, I've gone from, quite literally, a doggy-paddle to swimming 2000K meters and have dropped from 197 to 172 pounds and have absolutely caught the bug. And best of all, we're doing it for kids with life-threatening illnesses.
I know a lot of you are active in the fundraising community, but I would like to put our story out there. We have a website which has a video documenting it all at www.threemg.com. The three of us
(with absolutely zero triathlon experience - the most any of us had done was a 10K
) have set a goal to complete the Half Ironman and raise $70K for Give Kids the World, who provide a Wish for these kids with an all-expense paid trip to the Central Florida attractions, giving them some hope and, for many, fulfilling a dream.
The event is the Ford IronMan 70.3 Florida on May 20, 2007. We'll be there and will need any support, comments and prayers that the triathlon community can muster.
Our goal to raise the money is dead serious, no matter how many races it takes. Please visit and watch the video, and if you feel so moved, leave a comment in the tagboard and maybe a donation - we'd love to hear from you.
Larry
www.threemg.com