Earlier this week I took a leap of faith and signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon to take place this November. It will be my first marathon. To date, 14 miles is the longest I've clocked so I've another 12.2 miles yet to go. This past Sunday I ran 13.1 miles for my weekly long run and when I finished (2 hours and 15 minutes and 43 seconds) I realized that I would have another 13.1 miles yet to go to have completed a marathon. Yes, the task is daunting. But I have decided to do two things to help me to achieve my goal:

• Reach out to friends and family for support
• Dedicate my first run to the great people at the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation who help raise money to combat childhood cancers

On this quest to complete a marathon (and trust me, it's been an amazing journey so far), I wanted to help others. To my friends, coworkers, family, and those I interact with on all the social networks, I wanted to help bring attention to children who are fighting cancer.

It was back in 2003 was when I first heard about the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. I came across a local story about a young girl named Alex who decided to set up a lemonade stand to help raise funds for kids like her who were sick with cancer. What has always inspired me is that one little girl who was dying of cancer put so much effort into helping others. Since 2003, my family and I have supported the ALSF and I have volunteered through my work and through my kids’ daycare to help raise money for the foundation. But with training for the big 26.2, I wanted to do something different so I have joined Team Lemon and am trying to raise $1,200 to go to ALSF in support of pediatric cancer research. Over the next five months, I'm going to blog about my experiences in training and in what I learn about ALSF. If you read this, I ask that you please make a donation to the ALSF. And if you are unable to make a donation, then please tweet, put on Facebook or email my official ALSF donation page to your friends and family. Thank you for your support!