**April 6th update! Wonderful week! In so many ways! Read the newest marathon journal entry at JacobFannin.com**

And so it begins...

My name is Jacob Fannin. I'm a singer/songwriter from the Upper Midwest by day; by night, (for the next few months at least), I am twilighting as a marathon runner.

I found out about Team in Training through a fellow musician's experience with it, and decided to challenge myself. I figured there are life lessons to be learned in these next few months somewhere... and the fact that we can help some others who need it in the process just made too much sense to say no to. So I signed up.

As part of the commitment of running this marathon, we (Team in Training, TNT) are raising money to fight Leukemia, Lymphoma, and other types of blood cancers through The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS.org). This is obviously the greatest part of this experience, because such a large portion of donations go directly to help with research, co-payments, and anything needed to help enhance or defend the quality of life for current and future patients.

My goal between now and the marathon (May 31st) is to raise $4,000. It's a steep tag... but a worthy one.

Can you help me?

There are two ways you can help if you are able. First is obviously a straight donation. Over on the sidebar you will find a prompt where you can enter your credit card information for your one time donation. You should receive an email confirmation, and of course this donation is tax deductible. If you are comfortable and willing to use your credit card... thank you.

Secondly, as a musician to aid in this goal, I have decided that all profit that I make from personal CD sales between now and my "finish line" will go directly towards reaching that $4,000 mark. I released my debut album back in 2007, and it is currently being sold on iTunes, Amazon, Walmart.com, and CdBaby among other places. However, those websites obviously take a cut of the profit themselves, so while I will still honor any online sales that occur, it makes more sense to sell directly to increase the money being donated. If you are interested in buying a CD, please just email me through my website (jacobfannin@jacobfannin.com). Include your address and the number of copies you wish to purchase. I'll mail them to you and add my return address with it. I am trusting you that I get some mail in return :) You can make checks payable to myself, or you can make them out to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I will just forward your payment directly to them.

Thank you all very much for even reading this. I hope you can help me out and make some kind of donation for the cause.

Also, please check in on me from time to time to see the progress. I will be keeping a seperate journal on my website (JacobFannin.com) throughout the process, and would like it very much if you would yell at me from time to time to keep me on track.

Let's heal the world ya'll.

Jake