I'm ashamed...

I am a tad ashamed I haven't written on here in two months. My bad ;)

I'm more ashamed that the reason I'm blogging has something to do with the fact I need your money :)

Some of you might know that I'm planning to run my first half-marathon in December as part of the "Run the Rock" Marathon in Dallas. The run supports the Scottish Rite Hospital of Dallas, an organization that provides free medical treatment to children who cannot afford it.

If any of you have known me through the years (I'm talking about EARLY teens), you know that there are two things near and dear to my heart: children (particularly disabled children -- thanks Mrs. Bragg) and medical care (from my days at Zale Lipshy University Medical Center in Dallas).

Many of the children who I had the opportunity to work with over the course of five summers used the Scottish Rite's facilities because their parents could not afford the ridiculous medical expenses associated with multiple doctor visits, surgeries and treatments.

So I'm asking you – my fellow blog reader(s) – to donate what you can to an amazing cause. Even if it is just $5, I would greatly appreciate. I may even "attempt" to run faster because of it :) No guarantees though; just because I'm doing this thing doesn't mean I'm a terrific runner. I may be lucky to survive it!!

And actually – how about a little double or nothing proposition for you – I’m willing to double whatever I can raise (up to $1,000). So what you donate is more like twice the amount!! Now I’m not so ashamed to be asking people for money!

Here's the site you need to visit to donate, as it will help me figure out how much money I’ll need to give: https://www.active.com/donate/tsrh08/JBalthr

Anyways, thanks, and I may be pinging more people via MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. just to spread the word.