Hello everyone!

Thank you incredibly for visiting my fundraising hub for my 2010 Boston Marathon run. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in such a momentous event and to do so for such a wonderful organization as the Boston Debate League. My life has been dramatically influenced by both running and debating/speech programs throughout the years, and I'm looking forward to the next five months as a chance to challenge myself, get involved in the greater Boston debate community, and give back in the very best way I know how- doing something of severely questionable sanity and writing about it in an effort to raise awareness.

My running story is a rather typical one. I started running a few years ago as a new year's resolution to myself, mostly in the interest of finding a hobby that was cheap, accessible, and connected to a network of highly engaged individuals. For runners, "highly engaged" is, more often than not, an understatement. As I racked up the miles on treadmills and reservoir paths, I read more and more magazines, met inspiring athletes, and began to identify myself with a running community that gets why you're out there at 7 AM in a nor'easter. That recognizes that post-race hobble down a fight of stairs. That communicates volumes through nods, smiles, expressive eye-contact, etc when you're passing a fellow noble masochist on your eighth loop down the Cambridge side of the Charles. Because truly- I swear to you- Running. Is. Epic. It's accomplishment, it's therapeutic, it's adventure, it's frequently hilarious, and it is wonderfully liberating.

I've raced a few times (specifically, the Madison Half Marathon and the James Joyce Ramble), and have certainly looked to Boston as the "maybe someday" goal that haunts every successful 5k finisher when you cross the finish line and think, "you know, I could keep going." Boston Fever's exacerbated when you're a student at Wellesley College and privy to the heady thrill of Marathon Monday each year as thousands of students and staff line Central Street and create the infamous "scream tunnel"- a veritable wall of noise the runners hear from miles away that continues well past college property. I've been an emphatic member of the scream tunnel for three years, and in this- my senior year at Wellesley College- I am determined to run strong through throngs of screaming classmates and cross that legendary Boylston Street finish line for myself.

I came to connect with the Boston Debate League through my lovely and remarkably brilliant girlfriend, Elizabeth Kim, who has not only rocked the national high school and college debate scenes for eight years, but also served as a coach, mentor, researcher, and all-around genius for various debate programs, including the BDL, across the country. Her stories of personal achievement, dedication, intellectual development, and team camaraderie have inspired not only myself and her friends and family, but more students than any of us will ever have the privilege to meet. The Boston Debate League is the emblem of a program that changes lives, creates friendships, and literally gets kids to college, and when Liz told me that the BDL was forming a team to run the Boston Marathon, I immediately committed myself to helping in any way that I can.

The Boston Debate League was established in 2005 in conjunction with Boston Public School leadership to combine fun, competition, and rigorous academics in a dynamic outside-the-classroom setting. It goes beyond typical after-school programs to organize tournaments, summer institutes, coaching, and workshop experiences for participating students, and the statistics that have come out of just five years of operation in Boston are astounding. Dr. Carol Johnson, superintendent of Boston Public Schools, has cited the overall graduation rate of Boston high schools as less than 60%, with numbers even more discouraging for minority students. Fact: nearly 100% of BDL participants graduate high school, and this is not just an analysis of students with top grades who join the program. Involvement with the BDL increases student attendance, raises GPAs and test scores, and dramatically increases the likelihood that a student will not only attend, but graduate from a four-year college. And this is just what we see on paper. The students themselves are thoroughly awesome, and the BDL is consistently hearing stories from alums who go on to achieve highly after graduation. (Visit bostondebate.org)

So it's perfect! This race is a chance to combine my love of running with a commitment to cultivating social, academic, and a whole host of other vital skills in Boston-area students. I can't wait to see what my team and I create out of this adventure, and I do hope you'll follow along with our progress on this site and my training blog (link soon!), and perhaps donate whatever it is you can to support this great cause.

Thank you! And please keep in touch!