On April 15th, I will be joining my fiancée Kristen as well as other members of the Cure Alzheimer’s fund raising team to run the Boston Marathon.
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon that held on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon, and ranks as one of the world’s best-known road racing events.
Cure Alzheimer’s Fund™ is a 501(c)(3) accredited public charity which exists solely, “to fund research with the highest probability of slowing, stopping or reversing Alzheimer’s disease.”
Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is different than many charities because all their overhead and expenses are paid for by the organization’s founders. That means that EVERY dollar given to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is immediately used for research with the best chance of leading to new therapies and, one day soon, a cure.
Kristen and I have been seeing each other since the spring of 2010 and running has become one of the things we enjoy doing together. From running established races like the Newburyport 5k to a half marathon in Dublin and many other races here in states such as the BAA and Bedford Half (top left). We have also incorporated running into our vacations as a way to see the sights while we try to blend in with the local crowds in places like DC and San Francisco.
My fiancée and I have talked about chasing the unicorn, a.k.a. running the Boston Marathon since last fall, but couldn’t decide if we were up to the challenge. Without a clear goal in sight we started marathon training the first week in December and said to ourselves that we would figure something out. We tried to find an April marathon and kept coming back to the marathon in Boston with the question, “wouldn’t that be perfect?”
As things so often do, a series of events coincided at the same time: we decided we could raise the money; we decided we could commit to training through the cold winter; AND we found a great opportunity to support a charity whose ethos matched our own.
Not only did we find a charity that matched us philosophically we also found a cause that we could support without reservation. Losing loved ones is always a terrible burden and a hardship, but the devastation of having a loved one suffer from Alzheimer’s is almost beyond description.
Kristen and I are very excited to raise funds in hope of a cure and we hope that 2013 year is a great year for everyone.
Warmest Regards,
Travis Songer
To make a donation by mail please send a check to: Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington Street, Suite 200, Wellesley, MA 02481 (write: Travis Songer in the memo)