St. Jude’s Run/Sam-A-Thon Update

Hey Sam Fans!  Just thought I’d pass along the latest letter from my Uncle Tim, who will be running to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.  The big event begins April 29th and ends May 3rd!  Go Uncle Tim!!!

Hello Everyone!

All of you on this email distribution have at least one thing in common, you cared enough to send a donation for a very worthy cause. I started my fundraising efforts shortly after Christmas when I first became involved in the St. Jude Memphis to Mobile Run. At the time, April 28th seemed so far away, now it’s almost here! As you may recall, I was required to raise at least $2000 to be eligible to participate in this event. Feeling somewhat brazen, I set my goal at $4200. Because of YOUR generosity (and some others that I don’t have an email address for!), to-date I have raised $9,525!!

Now that the run is quickly approaching, a lot of the details have been finalized and I thought you might be interested in what we’ll be doing. There are two attachments, one shows the original graphic I sent out with my letter back in December. It has been updated to show the awesome donation total YOU have made possible. The other attachment, is our actual, detailed route that we will be running between Memphis and Mobile.  You can pull up a map on Google or MapQuest and by reading the routes on the attached, see where we’ll be running.

Here are some of the other logistics associated with the run:

• We have a total of 32 runners, 11 of which are from Peoria, IL

o   The Peoria St. Jude folks have been doing a run from Memphis to Peoria for 28 years, so they have this down to a science

o   Mobile is on the second city in the country (I think I’m correct on that!) to do this type of event

o   So the Peoria runners have very helpful in giving us tips, helping us get organized, mapping out the route, etc.

• We will be divided into two teams, “Gold” and “Purple” (the Mardi Gras connection was intentional – this IS Mobile after all!)

o   I will be on the Purple Team

• We will leave Mobile at 0700 Wednesday, April 28th and travel to Memphis via motor homes

o   Each team (Gold and Purple) will have two motor homes, so 8 runners per motor home

o   I am “Motor Home Captain” for Purple Team 2 (talk about a resume bullet!)

• There will also be vans (and I believe other motor homes) for “support personnel” – cooks, etc.

o   So, it will be quite the caravan – all the motor homes will have St. Jude signs/banners!

• We arrive in Memphis about 1600 on Wednesday and then have a team meeting at 1700

o   We will be at the Marriott near St. Jude that evening

o   The female runners (no comment on prejudice here!) will share a room in the hotel – 2 rooms, 4 to a room, can’t see the guys doing that anyway!

o   The male runners will sleep in the motor home in the parking lot of the Marriott (Like a good Captain, I would rather stay with my “command” anyway)

• After our team meeting we are free to enjoy the sights and sounds of Memphis (Flo – are you there?)
• Thursday, April 29th we’re up at 0500 and need to be at St. Jude by 0800 to start our tour

o   We’re fortunate to get a tour of the hospital because they don’t give tours to “just anyone” due to the children’s weakened immune systems

o   We’ll have a talk by one of the doctors, Group photo, etc.

• After the tour, we get down to business and start the run at 1100

o   Gold Team starts off, leaving from the St. Jude campus with the “Runner Send Off” ceremony

• The Purple Team will travel down the road about 46 miles and wait for the Gold Team in Holly Springs, MS.

o   At this point, refer to the Word attachment to see how we leap frog across Mississippi and into Alabama

• Once we hit Mobile, we’ll stop on Government Street near Spanish Plaza

o   All runners, both Gold and Purple Teams, will then run thru the Bankhead Tunnel and onto Battleship Parkway

o   The run will terminate at Battleship Park around 1300

o   There will be an end of run celebration with food, beverages, bands, etc. – Please join us if you can!

So, that’s pretty much it. Except for one other thing, the reason we are doing this run. For me, it’s personal, since my great nephew, Sam Robinson has brain cancer. But it’s also larger than that, there are hundreds of small children battling cancer that need our help. We all know how expensive medical care is – that’s why your donations are so critical and so very much appreciated! I’ve attached a link to Sam’s blog, if you haven’t visited this blog yet, please do so – this is why I am running. I have also attached a link to a You Tube video from a local parent about his daughter that has cancer, please take a moment to watch that as well. During the run we will be doing “honor miles” for certain children, I’m sure we’ll be doing one for Sam somewhere along the route. We’ll also be doing one toward the end of the run for local teen that died last year (Krisanna Roberts) from cancer. She attended UMS school and her favorite color was yellow. When we do her honor mile on Old Shell Road in front of UMS, we’ll all stop and put on yellow shirts in her memory.  I’ve attached a link with a story about her as well.

http://blog.al.com/live/2009/11/ums-wright_student_dies_of_bra_1.html

http://ericarobinsonphotography.com/samsblog/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4q_cN46oyI

Thanks again for making this possible, if I can send any updates from the road I will. If not, I’ll send out a post-run wrap up email.

Cheers,

Tim