As anyone who has ever tried to organize a trip with me will frustratingly tell you, I'm not the best at the whole "planning ahead" thing. Maybe its because of my creative and spotaneous nature. Maybe its because I have a wild imagination and think that I shouldn't book that trip to Peoria JUST YET because maybe the CIA will call on me to go into service as a special assassin/ spy/ tuxedo-wearing-seducer of beautiful women and I can't be tied down.

Or maybe I'm just a moron.

Whatever the case may be, I am feeling some of the effects of my lack of foresight now that the most rigorous part of fundraising and training is going on just as I'm finishing up and graduating from USC, resulting in a delicious clusterf*ck of fun!

My training has actually been thrown a little off track recently because of an emergency trip back to Chicago...but now that I'm back in LA I am totally prepared to have my training get thrown off track again by graduation.

A bit tricky, sure, but I keep an unnatural and unrealistic optimism about my ability to stay the course and keep training and fundraising despite the swirling cauldron of commitments, deadlines, and healthy helpings of stress, doused in stress, with some stress on the side.

But, HEY! That's just what the running is for! Easing away the stress....or, at least just making my feet hurt enough to take my mind off of the fact that I graduate and become officially cast off into the real world in a mere few days.

Oh, well...hey, that reminds me - MONEY!

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

If you haven't donated yet, please take a look at the cause and consider helping me meet my goal. I've had a lot of support already and I thank everyone who has donated. This is for LIFE-SAVING CANCER RESEARCH, people!

Please read up on LLS here and consider giving $20, $50 or more if you can!

For most of my life, Easter had been a kind of covert mission-- get downstairs and seek out the plastic eggs and Easter basket (and candy cache within) and then disappear like some suburban-stealth warrior to avoid the inevitable trip to church that, along with showering and wearing a sweater vest, brought a temporary but abrupt end to my candy-eating.

In more recent years candy has been on the backburner, I go to church willingly, and find sweater vests to be ironically fashionable.

But this was an Easter morning like none other because I woke up at 6am and ran ten damn miles through the cloudy misty morning for Week 11 of prepping for the San Diego half-marathon with Team in Training.

It was a totally different run than the ten miles I ran on a cold and rainy Sunday a few weeks back. This "10er" was easier: I kept a faster pace, I wasn't soaking wet, and our route took us into the picturesque hills of Pacific Palisades rather than past United's landing track into LAX.

In fact, despite the occaisonal cramps, tired feet, sore knees, early mornings, and low-level dehydration, I've really enjoyed the training and am feeling more and more confident about running the San Diego half-marathon on June 5.

The only thing I've realized I need to step up my game for is the fundraising. Along with committing to run the half-marathon, I've also pledged to raise $2,200.00 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and, though I'm not panicking, I have realized its time to get to work.

I've been so swamped with getting ready for graduation I've barely had time to keep up with some of my favorite hobbies: drinking, blogging, and loudly complaining about the parking lots at Dodger Stadium.

So, in addition to doing more in the next few weeks than I ever thought I'd need to do in a two-week period- I've decided to add FUNDRAISE to the list. Sending emails, sending letters, and probably planning some kind of last-ditch plot that will essentially be a rip-off of one of Kramer's get-rich-quick schemes.

As I've said before, LLS is an amazing organization that puts donations immeadiately into Leukemia and Lymphoma research that saves lives and all donations are 100% tax-deductable. So I want to reach out to all my friends and ask to give something- every little bit helps.

And if you want any more info about LLS or Team in Training email me (markjkosin@gmail.com) and we can rap about it.

And I don't have to use the phrase "rap about it" if you find it painfully out-of-touch.

And to all those who have already donated: THANK YOU SO MUCH. I really appreciate your support and hope you'll share what we're doing with others so they may give too.

Anyway, I need to take a shower and get to choich now.

Oh, and HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE.

Had a bit of a letdown this week becuase I wasn't able to make one of our awesome long runs. It was a nine-mile run down in Palos Verdes and it was a hot and beautiful day to be outside. I was consumed with "movie junk", which is the all-encompassing term I use whenever any element of my (hopeful) career in film keeps me from something that would probably be more fun.

Anyway, keeping the training up during the week along the beach in Venice (which is always great because you'll never find such an "herbal" route to run as along the boardwalk). Plus, we got a good-sized run coming up next Sunday. In the meantime, figured I'd spend a little time going into what LLS does and why this cause is such a huge motivator to keep training and keep raising money.

In the past weeks we've had many people share their stories about how blood cancer has affected their lives. One of our coaches recently shared a story that is both painful and hopeful. This is my abridged, "from memory" version:

His name is Chris, and he told us the story of his father who was diagnosed with Lymphoma, and though he fought it, it eventually became a terrible burden on his life and, after so many treatments, he knew he would only be around so long.

Chris and his father held out hope, though, and his father became extra-determined when Chris and his wife found out they were pregnant. The prospect of meeting his granchild kept Chris's father in treatment, enduiring the pain and fatigue of chemotherapy.

Unfortunantly, tragedy struck and Chris's wife lost the baby. The magnitude of this saddness was amplified a little while later when Chris' father passed. In the law of "when it rains, it pours", after a doctor conducted tests on Chris' wife to determine what had happened, she was found to have an early version of the diease as well.

Thankfully, they had caught her early enough and, with some groundbreaking treatments made possible because of LLS research grants, they were able to defeat the disease and Chris's wife is now happy and healthy and they have a beautiful daughter.

Chris's takeaway was that as painful and difficult as his journey has been, it ultimately led to good things. If his first child hadn't passed, they might have never caught the cancer and Chris' wife could have died. It was also because of the constant, persistant research from LLS that treatments are available now that were not before.

Chris is now an amazing coach for Team in Training and has raised money year after year while training newcomers in the ways of running and fundraising.

To those who have already donated, I cannot thank you enough! No amount is too small! It is such a great cause and if you click the link below, you can see just how LLS puts your donations to work right away to find treatments and a cure:

http://www.lls.org/#/aboutlls/financialinformation/

Getting back to running and such next Sunday, with hopefully a few more lighter stories about my half-marathon full-on maddness. And more of those delicious Shot Bloks.

I had no idea!

Well, not exactly. But as we've stretched our runs to longer and longer distances I have gotten an education in ways to keep energy levels up.

Apparently, if you wake up and only have Gatorade, nuts, and berries for breakfast, by the time you're right around 5 or 6 miles, your energy starts to wain and your mouth starts to taste like a used dentist's glove. When I was on our long run a few weeks ago (the ten-miler) and I got to that point, I was introduced by a friend to these things called "Shot Bloks". Here is picture of them with me looking kinda like Charlie Sheen....

You can't really tell from the picture, but they are these amazing sweet-flavored gummie energy bites. They're filled with calories and sodium (b/c the body loses salt when you sweat! As someone who usually only sweats when the Cubs have a one-run lead in the 9th, this is valuable information now) and energy-packed carbs and stuff.

THEY ARE DELICIOUS. Now, I don't know if its because its how they actually taste, or if its just because the only time I eat them is when I'm tired and hungy and dry-mouthed, etc. This would fall under the jurisdiction of the "Five Faces Effect", a reference to the venerable greasy food spot on Division Street, which I always thought had the best food ever made- an opinion formed because the only time I ate there was at the end of a long night of drinking and I was so drunk and starving that half of a microwaved hot-dog from a 7-11 would be a fine delicacy. But, since these things are so pakced with cals and carbs, the only time I'll be downing a Shot Blok is when i'm at least 5 miles into a run. So finding if they really do taste good is like determining how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop: the world may never know.

Other than the yummy snacks (yes, they are yummy. that word is applicable) I have while running, the training is going great. The weather is finally better so we havent had any rainy runs. We've got a field trip to the hills of Palos Verdes coming this Sunday which should be a lot of fun.

Oh, and the FUNDRAISING has been great. I'm so happy for all the support and donations I've gotten so far. I'm so very very greatful for everyone's donations. Each week I hear more and more stories that pack in a whole season's worth of TV drama into fifteen minutes when people share their own experiences. Please! KEEP THOSE DONATIONS COMING - PLEASE SHARE THIS STUPID BLOG WITH OTHERS, in hopes they may give just a little bit...it all helps.

I've heard from people who have had wonderful joy and endured harrowing tragedy in their battles with Leukemia and Lymphoma. The stories keep me focused on my task while out running or planning to fundraise- when I get a bit more time hopefully I can share more.

That's all for now. I've decided to actually hide the Shot Bloks, because right now I've got a gummi craving and those sodium and carb packed sonsabitches is all I got to satisfy it.

NOT...TIL......SUNDAY.....

This past weekend was a bit of a contrast because we scaled back the run distance but I personally ramped up my fundraising efforts.

SCALE IT BACK!

After pushing my way through ten miles last week, this past Sunday was supposed to be a step down to let the body heal and rest before the next big run - apparently that's how things are gonna go training-wise from now on: push it, bring it back, push it, and bring it back - which, yes makes the next few weeks of training sound like some kind of a Jay Sean song.

So, after slogging my way through ten miles and AT LEAST 2 inches of rain last week, you can imagine the joy I felt waking up this past Sunday to see it raining. AGAIN. Now, that kinda sh*t just ain't supposed to happen in LA. All this city has going for it is the weather!

Needless to say, I was leaning towards the "I'm not feeling it" dark side again when I saw those clouds and puddles. But, figured "Its only five miles" and decided to head out.

Glad I did, because our speaker this week was a woman and her 8-year-old daughter, who seemed about as happy to be awake and in the rain that morning as I was. As I watched the mom talk she revealed that her daughter had been diagnosed with Leukemia at the tender age of six. She had battled it and undergone treatment - gotten sick and lost her hair and all that business - and now, two years later,she was pretty much blood-cancer-free...with a beautiful head of blonde hair that her mother lovingly handled as she spoke.

Furthermore, the mother pointed out, many of the treatments her daughter underwent were available specifically because of research grants care of LLS, the organization that Team in Training raises money for, aka, the organization I'm running / fundraising for.

That was really great to hear. It was also great to find out that the sweet little girl had successfully undergone treatment and was much better now.

Of course, it made me feel like a certifiable jack*** for even thinking about not running that morning - this girl had survived Leukemia at an age where I could barely survive the monkey bars. Certainly a cause worth cutting a few hours of sleep out of my pathetic life for.

And even more so a cause worth donating for, leading me to the RAMPING UP section.

RAMP IT UP!

I finally got out a bunch of letters to family and friends and am SO PUMPED to already see donations from some dear neighborhood friends. Really glad to see those come in and gave me confidence to lean on everyone else to DONATE.

See, I'm going to start working this as a two-front war (FATAL for Germany in WWII, but WINNING for fundraising, I believe) and hit up friends from Chi-town to LA and anywhere I can think of in between.

Meeting more and more survivors has made me realize how important it is to not only meet my fundraising goal, but to TOTALLY BLOW IT OUT OF THE WATER. Just blow that goal up, like its frickin' Gaddafi's HQ or Charlie Sheen's career, and leave the "minimum" in the dust.

But I can't do it without your help too, so PLEASE DONATE!

And, if you've already donated - PLEASE FWD this cause to friends who may want to help.

Its such a great cause and really has a direct effect on people, and not just film students who are trying to make up for three years of self-serving film school with one big half-decent act / athletic event.

It had a direct effect on that 8-year-old girl.

I mean, it saved her life.

For that, at the absolute barest of bare minimums, I can get my lucky butt out of bed and run in the rain.

Next week we got TWELVE MILES to do....holy crap....

At least I know one thing already...rain, shine, or crappy VFX "Battle:LA"-style alien invasion...

I AM SO THERE.