Continous Forward Momentum; Scoundrels in the Neighborhood.

Continuous Forward Momentum: As time marches quickly toward our destiny which begins May 15 at 8am, I gratefully give thanks to the family of Mitch Butler (my Special Little Buddy) for providing me and my support crew (Missus Gj) with nightly lodging for almost half of our journey:

Ken and Nancy Federspiel (Parents of Amy Butler)

Shari Eby (Amy's aunt)

Andrew Butler (son of Doug & Amy Butler)

Their support and love is overwhelming and accepted freely. I pray that I am worthy of the task before me..

Scoundrels in the Neighborhood: While I was out of town for a few days with my son who is home from Iraq for two weeks R & R, UPS delivered a pair of Spira running shoes which were donated by Spira (one of our sponsors) in support of our cause. Well, I guess temptation was just too much for someone as they were purloined from my porch over the weekend before I came home. I immediately contacted Spira to make sure that they were indeed delivered and they were and..much to my surprise, Spira is sending another pair out, which should arrive by Tuesday of next week. I cannot thank Spira enough for their generosity. Folks, please follow the link below to their website. A company with such high values surely deserves our business and support.

"Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means." Leo Buscaglia



May You Rest Peacefully in His Arms Now & Always

God Bless

Gj

New Sponsor; Verified first 100 miles; Emails Sent

New Sponsor: Well, not exactly, several months ago, I called Connie of Connie's Celebrations, located at 6195 Lewis Ave, Toledo OH and asked if I could use her parking lot for the start of my run on May 15. After a little explaining, she most heartily said yes...How wonderful because unknown to me is the fact that her parking lot is right on the Michigan / Ohio boarder line. Coincidence, maybe, I choose to believe that a guiding hand with much greater power than I was at work here.

And, today, I had the opportunity to meet this wonderful lady, to be sure a very hard worker. Connie's truly is a celebration with a wedding chapel (a most beautiful one to be sure)and hall & catering wedding and all occasion cakes , retail store and much more. Please visit her web site by clicking on the picture below within our sponsor section- thanks.

Gj & Connie

Here are a couple of pictures of Connie's work to whet your appetite:

Verified First 100 miles: Missus Gj & I travel the first 100 miles of our upcoming run and found the planned route to be very beautiful, but one which will also be very challenging with numerous hills and dirt and gravel roads. In fact one section is half marathon in length and it's all loose gravel on what could be called a one lane road, more so a path used by the farmers to access their fields. With just a couple of wrong turns, the route so far is an easy one to follow. Here area couple of pics of the journey

Island Lake Road / Lake - Not really sure what lake this is but it is very beautiful.

Babeee..Hey! How did our Sweetie get in here?

Village where we'll stay on the second night

Emails Sent: This morning I sent emails to city and village officials of Milan, Stockbridge and Lansing Mi. Within these emails I asked for there assistance to help raise awareness of Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety and Childhood Cancer awareness by proclaiming the months of May and September as awareness months respectively. Over the next few days several more cities and villages along the running route will be notified....Never EVer QuiT! - Gj

"Love Can Make You Do Things That You Never Thought Possible"

Phil Collins

Till Later, God Bless -
Gj

Systems are still Go; Spira – A New Sponsor; Another Blessing

Systems are still Go: Although I feel that my training is not as intense as it should be, nevertheless, come May 15th, Ol’ Gj and his support Crew, (Missus Gj) will begin our journey…spreading the word, raising awareness that more funds are needed to advance research into or pediatric cancer plaguing our children, especially neuroblastoma.

Spira – A New Sponsor - I am proud to say that Spira is helping sponsor ol’ Gj for this run of a lifetime. I wish to thank them and all who are helping me raise awareness of a childhood cancer, a most dreadful disease called neuroblastoma.

Please visit my sponsors as they deserve your business. May they always and in all ways be blest; Thank you from my heart. Just click on the pictures below to follow a link to their websites – Thanks Gj

Another Blessing - have been somewhat down of late with so many of my Little Buddies having relapsed, not to mention so many gaining their angels wings. Yet when it’s the darkest, the light always shines through. It looks like some very much needed support will be provided to me and Missus Gj as we travel on with journey, specifically it looks like 4 or 5 nights of lodging will be provided by a very special loving family. I just don’t want to say who just yet as the plans are still be firmed up. Once all is planned I will most definitely mention names (if they will allow such) – You know who you are and you have my deepest gratitude and love – GJ

"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”
William Barclay

God bless - Till Later,

GJ