I registered for the New York half marathon on August 27, 2006. I'm not at all trained for it, but we had a glorious, perfect day in the city today and I ran 6 miles, no problem. I think I'll do OK.

So, I'm thinking I could use this event to somehow raise money for my charity. I need an idea to raise $5,000. I've never done an email blast to my family and friends...maybe I'll go that route? I don't know. It feels small....do I have enough friends? There's got to be something.....

Just now, I bought 10 One Campaign bracelets from One.org. That's such a smart campaign. They don't want your money. It's more about making us aware of the poverty crisis in the world and inspiring us to be the voice that keeps our leaders focused on their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (which we're not doing).

Basically, less than 1% of the federal budget is earmarked for fighting AIDS and poverty around the world. Surveys show Americans think it's more like 15%. The One Campaign aims to get America to commit an extra 1% of our budget. Not much for us, but it translates into something like 10 million children who won't become AIDS orphans...and 6.5 million who won't die before they turn 5 because they don't have clean water or can't afford vaccines.

I'm grateful for that campaign, because before it launched I was pretty tuned-out and clueless.

I will wear the bracelet for the race, for sure. Still, there's got to be a way to do something big to raise money around that event.....

A year and a half ago, I was training for the New Orleans marathon (2/27/05). I was on my way to Central Park. It was cold and it started to rain. I dropped in at Ann Taylor on Madison Ave to buy a baseball hat (which they don't sell. I had to get it at the zoo). The security guard, a guy from Africa, noticed my jacket: New York Marathon. I told him I ran it in 2003 as a fluke -- My friend Bonnie suggested a bunch of us put our names in the lottery and I was the only one who got in. I lost touch with Bonnie, but I picked up a new hobby. Now, I wanted do another one and improve my time.

I wish I could remember the guard's name. It started with M, I think. M was unforgettable...he talked about coming to this country two years earlier and training for the marathon. He talked about waking up at the crack of dawn every day...choosing highly unrunnable courses and pushing himself hard to sprint up hills...hours and hours a day. Totally ruthless stuff. He had never run a marathon before, he wasn't even a runner, so he needed to really buckle down. The way he saw it, as long as his heart was working and he could feel it beating -- even if it was banging out of his chest, that meant he could still keep pushing with all his might. He said to me, "when my heart stops, I'll stop." He ran his first (and only) marathon in just under 3 hours.

I was very impressed and inspired, but sheesh, how intense! I asked him what motivated him to train so hard.

He said, he really needed the money.

I said, you were training to win?!

He said, yes. And he said it very matter-of-factly, like, 'why else would I be doing it?'

I loved him with every fiber of my being.

Then I went to the zoo and bought my hat and tried to sprint up that slow incline by the stone black cougar in Central Park...I felt my heart beating hard....and then I started to walk.

M had something I greatly desired but hadn't fully developed yet...something around "clarity of possibility".

That's what's stirring in me, now. If I'm going to meet my 2006 goal, I should plan to raise $5,000 in the next two weeks around this event.

I'm an Aquarius. I'll think of something.