Update # 13 - June 2-02
Dear supporters, 

To those of you for whom this is the first update, I would like to thank you, from my mind, my heart and my soul. For those of you original supporters I thank you for the third time. I thank you for supporting a great cause, I thank you for your continued interest in my training progress and I thank you for telling me that in some ways I have inspired you. I once read that happiness does not come from luxury and comfort, that instead, it comes from something to be enthusiastic about. 

Today, I want to give you a new update on the three fronts: Our honorees, The training and the fund raising.

On the honoree front, we had the chance to hear from Ron and his wife and care giver Kim. Ron underwent a bone marrow transplant and is doing very well. The role of the care giver is almost as difficult as the role of the patient. She shared with us some stories that are very inspirational and very encouraging. I have been made aware by two of you about a relative and a friend who are affected by a related disease, Tim and Dan, you are my personal honorees. During the marathon, I will be wearing a bracelet with the names of those that I am honoring, I hope that my energy as well as the collective energy from all other 5.000 runners will contribute to their well being.

The training: I have now run about 250 miles since February 5th. Yesterday June 1st, I run the longest run of the season. A whooping 21 miles around the beautiful portola valley. I completed the run in a little over three hours and let me tell you, that is very tough. (Heart Rate graph HERE) I was preoccupied prior to this run because two weeks ago, during an 18 mile run the 38 years old body, that I told you was doing so well, experienced some small mechanical failures, I experienced a muscle tear on my left calf. I though I had been hit by an errant arrow while running in the woods of portola valley but not, the muscle was torn. Against every instinct that from a person determined to run a marathon is not to stop, not even at a sign of sharp pain, I remembered the voices of the coaches that so many times have told us that at a sign of acute pain we need to stop! For the bigger cause of completing my first marathon in less than a month, I stopped. There are times in life when loosing one battle may increase the chances of winning the war. 

The fund raising: With your generous support, I have raised $ 4.348 for the Leukemia society. The rest of the team combined has raised close to $ 300.000. 

The next update will be after I return from Anchorage. Please remember to take full advantage of the gift of a healthy life.

I would love to hear from you.

David 

p.d. You can review my training progress in more detail by visiting http://www.geocities.com/dbigio I have also posted graphs of my heart rate during some of the runs and some nice pictures.