Dear fellow runners;

Our committee members have all been touched over the years by various stories we have heard from runners attending the County Marathon. There are personal stories of success. Recently, I was reading about Gary (and Gary if you are reading this perhaps you can comment). He was written in the spring 2013 issue of IRun magazine having recovered from a devastating accident and having been told he probably wouldn't walk again - he has been a regular at the County Marathon for years. On another front, my daughter was volunteering at the Ottawa Marathon last season and when the first wheel-chair athlete came across the finish line she started to cry...looking around she quickly could see she wasn't the only one moved by that sub-2 hour performance....But I think it was more than the visual of a great athlete - it was a reminder of the great things we are all capable of if we put our minds to it. Being close to greatness is moving.

Recently our Committee was approached by the family of a distinguished Canadian politician, Dr Maurice Foster, who had died from Pulmonary Fibrosis. As a family they had contacted us to see if we could somehow recognize their plans to run our race in memory of him. This blog is one of the references we will make in recognition of their effort to raise money to find a cure for the disease he was afflicted by. I know we will be recognizing them at our awards ceremony as well - we were collectively thrilled to be asked to be a part of this very personal tribute.

As you may know we established the County Marathon, in part, to add one more great race to the Canadian calender of road races (and we are, apparently, the 19th largest road race in Canada) but we also wanted to create a vehicle to raise money for worthwhile causes. I should hasten to add that we did not want to burden you with demands to support a specific cause - we already knew running was a personal undertaking. We knew we needed to allow runners to find their own reasons to run through the middle of Prince Edward County in all kinds of dreadful weather. That being said we did manage to complete our first stated goal this past year. We helped provide the funds needed to resurface North America's first surfaced track at a Public School. CML Snider in Wellington now has a very fine looking fully refurbished track (and when you come down this year we love to see you out on it doing a lap or two because you helped pay for it!).

That success has allowed us to focus solely on our second goal to support our local hospital - its where our race finishes up - on purpose. This year for the 1st time in our history we have a direct donation link on our registration page. Completely optional, as you register you will be asked if you wish to donate...Briar, a lovely young County person, who works for the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation, has promised to send out charity donation receipts to everyone who qualifies and she also said she would be able to get a fairly accurate total donated figure for us to annouce at our awards ceremony this year. We are looking forward to telling you how well we did!

So now I am pretty much left with just one more item to relate to you. Last fall it had been 30 years since my Dad Professor Willard G Henry died - far to young at 59. I am now almost his age...and it seems almost strange, in contrast, to still be able to run regularly. It was this past fall when I decided I needed to recognize him one more time. I have signed up as part of the MMRF (Multiple Myeloma) NYC Marathon Power Team and will be running in New York City this fall with my father very much on my mind. And here is my request, if you would be so kind as to visit my fund raising website I would be very thankful. Donations can be made securely and directly on-line or by cheque in Canadian Money made out to MMRF. If you write a cheque you can forward it to me:

Mark Henry, 15786 Loyalist Parkway, Bloomfield, Ontario K0K1G0

I will pass them on to the address you see below. This is why I am running. But I have one more request. Please tell me why you are running this year - we'd love to share as many of those notes as we can as you cross the finish line and at our awards ceremony - maybe we will raise a tear or two.

Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
MMRF Marathon/Half Marathon Program
383 Main Avenue, 5th Floor
Norwalk, CT 06851
Attn: Alicia O'Neill