Let’s see if I can beat Chris

It’s official. The Galloway marathon training program www.jeffgalloway.com/ was kicked off in grand style this morning. Several hundred local participants joined several thousand others across the country in the first day of preparation to run the inaugural 26.2 with Donna www.breastcancermarathon.com
My last post came after the completion of the Jacksonville Marathon at the end of 2006.
I took several months off from running and attempted to pack some meat back onto my skinny little body. I failed. Without complaining and making excuses for getting distracted from my goal I think it’s better that I fast forward several months to April ’07.

I received a phone call from the Jacksonville events office the third week in April to initiate work on the inaugural poster for the 26.2 with Donna. The marathon takes place in Jacksonville Beach, February 17, 2008 and the city along with the Donna Hicken Foundation and Mayo Clinic were already deep into the marketing efforts. I was thrilled to get the call and eager to begin concepting ideas.
The marathon is very unique in that a portion of the run takes place on the beach. I run almost every other day on the beach — the beach will be my focus! After several early morning (incredibly inspiring) beach runs my mind locked in on a concept that involved leaping “pink dolphin” forming the breast cancer ribbon with a stream of runners in the background along Jacksonville Beach.
Several conversations with Donna and additional input from her support team challenged me to rethink the approach. The ideas kept flowing and eventually we narrowed the artwork down to a montage of recognizable Jacksonville Beach iconic elements.
It took about 70 hours to move through this process and complete the artwork. I am pleased with the work and hope that it inspires you to remain connected to this effort.

I have renewed myself and look forward to the next six months of training.
The posts will happen once a week and will be similar to my posts from last year.
Intrigue, pain, humor and drivel.

Oh, (by the way) Chris is the 100 Mile Ultrastud representing Galloway who trains us mortals. I think I CAN take him this year (in the marathon) if someone is willing to mess with his Gatorade at mile 18.

Below is the rationale I offered to the media on behalf of my marathon poster creative efforts.
Title - “Sea of Ribbons in the Sun”
In 2006 I participated in The Donna Hicken Foundation marathon training and fund raising effort. I was instantly inspired by the motivation exhibited by all the participants and their sincere desire to be successful.
From that inspiration I developed a personal journal that I supplemented with weekly paintings from our various training locations. The small paintings became gifts for all the individuals that supported me throughout the training and eventually the marathon.
A year later I am extremely honored to be able to provide the commemorative “inaugural” artwork for The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer.
A “bright sunlight” painterly style is reminiscent of the small paintings I produced during my fundraising in “06. The artwork combines many Jacksonville Beach landmarks and although the scene that I have created does not exist the runners will experience all the views along their 26.2 mile journey.