Aloha Friends !
After all these years, I thought I was prepared for most anything. Obviously not. Here we are only a month into our Badwater mission and I'm already overwhelmed...overwhelmed by generosity and support. Frankly, it's been tough for me to handle...even to talk about outside of just Heather. You see, some friends of mine have gone to lengths that I was not expecting.
The Vern. Vernon Char has been my dear friend throughout my short ultrarunning career and has been there for me at Mount Rushmore, Arkansas and Canada (as well as here in Hawaii). He is my mentor, and is constantly inspiring me to be a better human being, by the way he lives his life. Vernon has come to my need again, agreeing to crew at Badwater, not an easy task in itself. I was taken back a little when The Vern said he wanted to help out financially at Badwater, but I said "okay, you can donate to the Challenged Athletes Foundation". He replied by saying "no, I want to give some money to you, to help with expenses". Knowing how hard-headed The Vern can be, and that I was wasting my breath trying to dissuade him, I meekly agreed. I'm still overwhelmed. Thank you Vernon.
Bob Mc. Bob McAllaster has been a good friend and running buddy of mine for 5 or 6 years. I was there when love was blossoming between he and his wonderful wife Barbi. I've watched him grow into an accomplished ultrarunner, and was there when he finished his first 100 miler, the very difficult HURT 100. Bob is responsible for the HURT blog site and when I got into Badwater, told me he was going to do me a blog site for Badwater. I didn't realize at the time how big of a deal this was and how important it would be. I also didn't have any idea how much work it would be on Bob's part, and I never realized how professional he is to work with. He is doing a fantastic job ! In Bob's case, it doesn't end here. Bob credits much of his success at the HURT 100 this year with his newly adopted training program, implementing core/strength/interval training. Bob has taken me under his wing and on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons he puts me through my paces with this new workout. I have no idea how many hours Bob has unselfishly devoted to this point...but it's a lot... to make my dream a reality, but the blog continues and the training continues. I'm overwhelmed. Thank you Bob.
Bob D. Bob Dewitz is a relative newcomer to the local ultrarunning scene. He and I have only spent a few hours together, primarily marking trail for the HURT 100 race. Bob is just one of those rare, nice guys, and a saavy, businessman, running several successful companies. When I grow up, I want to be just like Bob Dewitz. Bob called me at work, and the conversation eventially made it around to ultrarunning and then to Badwater. I can't remember exactly how Bob put it...but something like "If you are crazy enough to do Badwater, the least I can do is to donate some money to your charity, CAF". I was excited...this would be one of the first CAF donations. In my mind, I'm thinking $25...maybe even $50, would be more than generous. After all, I don't even know Bob all that well. A few minutes later, the CAF notification comes up on my computer "Bob Dewitz $250.00 donation"....wow, overwhelmed again ! Thank you Bob.
Thanks to all my many friends who are supporting me in so many ways.
Aloha !
Don
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