Every so often a run takes me past Edgell Memorial Library.

(Sunday Paper, Year VI, Issue 23)

Friends, I am very excited to share this news with you this week:

I will be running the Boston Marathon to help raise funds for the Framingham History Center.

I’m excited about this for a number of reasons, which we’ll talk about today.

But I don’t want to bury the lead - this is the link to my fundraising page and if you can give anything I would really appreciate it.

Now on with the Sunday Paper.

First, a programming note: If you’re tuning in to read posts by my kids, well, I’m sorry.

I told you if I had important news to share I’d interrupt.

Turns out, it worked out that I could just push everything off a week and put this announcement here this week.

So rather than disrupt the momentum of my time off from the Sunday Paper, I figured I’d throw this at you today, get you to donate to the cause - here’s that link again - and then sit back and relax and enjoy the girls’ posts the next few weeks. (And the dog’s after that. And probably Kathy too, so this will stretch into July.)

But let’s talk about the Framingham History Center, shall we?

A reminder - I am running the Boston Marathon with Team Framingham. Framingham gets these spots with the understanding that the runners will raise a certain amount of money for local charities. The way that works is Team Framingham gathers charities (I actually don’t remember if that’s a lottery system too, like the runners) and the runners pick what they want to raise money for.

So I’ll say here: In 2021 Team Framingham has 5 very worthy causes for which to raise money. It was not an easy decision for me to pick one over the others. But when considering five great options, I had to go with the one that connected with me most personally. And as a former history teacher, that personal connection was the Framingham History Center.

Why am I so excited about this?

Well, first of all, now things are getting real. The fundraising is underway, I’ll be officially registered for the marathon this week, I’m beginning Week 4 of my training - there’s no turning back now. I’m so excited about this - part of me wants the Marathon to happen tomorrow…but the other part of me (including, now, the fundraising part) is aware that I need every bit of these next four months to be prepared for it.

But one of the things that had me so excited about being a part of Team Framingham was knowing that I would have the chance to raise money for something local. I love living in Framingham. We’ve lived here for 16 years now and this is a chance for me to show support and give back and I’m proud to call myself a member of Team Framingham.

Which brings us to the Framingham History Center. Years ago, I think it was over a February vacation, I saw a ‘Things To Do With the Kids’ type thing in a newspaper that suggested checking out the Framingham History Center. I took my oldest daughter - I’m guessing she was no more than 7 - on an afternoon that the paper gave as a time they were open…..and they clearly were not open. We were definitely interrupting something because people were around, but it was not tour time.

But the person who opened the door welcomed us in and showed us around and gave my daughter a scavenger hunt activity and it was a positive experience.

A couple of weeks ago I went back to talk about the marathon. It was another positive experience - I checked out the current exhibition (which you can explore online but I encourage you to check out in person if you’re local) and met with the people I’ll be working with over the next few months.

I definitely made the right choice.

I hope you’ll consider helping to support them and me.

Thank you.

Notes

*This week I did my usual training Monday through Friday - it’s a 30-minute tempo run on Monday, a 30-minute pace run on Wednesday, and ‘strength for runner’ workouts on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday is a 20-minute run, and then on Saturday I do a long run. This week was an 8-mile run and since I didn’t make it to the team run in last week’s weather I ran along the marathon course this week. I started at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and ran to Kenmore Square. Those ‘heartbreak hills’

*Oh! Did you see the other big news of my week on Wednesday? First of all - if you didn’t maybe it’s because you don’t Like the Facebook page - you can do that here. And you can also follow me on Twitter here. But on Wednesday I wrote about going for a bike ride and then how I was doing my 100th Peloton ride that morning. I did a live class in hopes of getting shouted out for my 100th ride - and I did get shouted out! It was very exciting. You can see the video in the comments of that post from Wednesday.

*I guess I should quickly tell you a little more about the Framingham History Center: First of all, it is an independent non-profit organization that has been around since 1888. (History!) It is home to thousands of items from Framingham’s history, and coordinates programs in the community and the schools here in Framingham. I will certainly tell you more as time goes on but you can read more about FHC here.

*OK. Thanks again for your support - either in real-time or in advance. In true fundraising fashion I’ll throw that fundraising link at you one more time. Give what you can. Check out the Framingham History Center - either online or, if you can, in person.

Enjoy the guest posts for the next month or so. I’ll talk to you soon.