Dear Friends and Family,
As you know the NYC Marathon was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. We want to share our experience, and give you an update on our future marathon plans. We heard the news when we landed in DC en route to NY. We decided to go ahead and go. We had already planned to volunteer one day, so it seemed fitting.

On Saturday, we attended the pre-marathon team dinner with GRS. It was great to see Ethan, meet the other runners, and commiserate together.

On marathon Sunday the GRS team volunteered at an organization called God’s Love We Deliver. They provides 4200 HEALTHY meals per day to men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illness. The loss of power spoiled the food they had in their refrigerators and freezers. The team cleaned them all out, literally throwing tons of food away and bagged non-perishable meals to replace the lost ones. It was a really special afternoon and felt great to support GLWD.

That night, we attended the LIVESTRONG post marathon dinner. We bonded with the team and made some new friends. We also met with Pete Fleming of Kick 4 Life and spent a day/evening with him discussing ways we can expand Kick for Hope’s partnership with them. In all, we put the time to good use and forged bonds with others who share our vision to give a better life to the most vulnerable children in the world.

The media didn’t cover the charitable aspect of the Marathon. Runners raise over $35 million for charity! So while the race was cancelled, the valuable work these non-profits perform continues. Charities only receive a limited number of spots in the marathon each year. Guaranteeing everyone from 2012 a spot in next year’s marathon, with no additional fundraising required, will greatly impact their budgets.

Therefore, we plan to run NYC in 2013! And in addition to the donations we have received, we will also host several events to add to the marathon fund for 2013. It is my hope we will exceed our $6k goal for GRS in order to provide additional revenue for next year. Please look for soccer clinics and other special events to be held throughout the year to benefit our 2013 Marathon Fund. Our Crowdrise page will continue to accept donations throughout the year.

Thank you again for your support and understanding. We appreciate you all very much! I can only hope that next year we will not only be better trained for the event, but make an even greater impact off the course.
Best Wishes,
Abel & Kristen