City to City Run to Defeat Malaria



Every three seconds a child dies from Malaria. Maybe we can change that.

WHAT WE ARE DOING-

Running on 7 Continents in 35 Days to raise awareness of a cure and prevention for Malaria, also to set a World Record!

WHAT YOU CAN DO -

You can help – Arrange for runners to go from CITY TO CITY WorldWide asking for donations from individuals and business.

Simple, it is up to us to wipe out this deadly disease. Medicine has been unable to control or eliminate this because it is big business.

Don Hall and Don Kern have established the City to City Run to Defeat Malaria, and are raising funds to donating Bti (bacillus thurengiensis var israelensis) to Equator Belt Countries. This bacteria naturally kills mosquitoes without disrupting personal health or environment, as opposed to spraying DDT.

All funds go DIRECTLY to the battlefront –

You can donate by clicking on the link in the left column. All funds go to Dr. Palmira Ventosilla care of Humboldt Tropical Institute. The efforts of Dr. Ventosilla and her dedicated staff, have wiped out Malaria using Bti, cleanliness of food and water, paving canals and teaching about the parasites carried by mosquitos. For more info, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=52294

Palmira Ventosilla, M.Sc.
Research Professor
Associate Researcher
Ph.D candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Mailing Address: A.P. 4314, Lima 100, Peru
Street Address : Av. Honorio Delgado 430, Lima 31, Peru

FINISHED SECOND WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT MARATHONS
for CITY TO CITY Defeata Malaria!


Cool and comfortable this morning, as I took a taxi from my hotel to the start of the race. I don´t understand the math on this one, but I had NO soreness left in my legs from the marathon in Luxor only two days ago.

I was there early, so I managed to find a cup of coffee. Not your typical American stuff--it was served in something a bit bigger than a shot glass and was pretty thick. They served two packets of sugar with it, and there was a good reason for that.

All the different running clubs were decked out in their colors. When you sign up for a race here, you give your running club name. I, of course, put Grand Rapids Running Club on mine. I think I´m the only member here.

Starting time was 9:00. I lined up near the 4:15 pace group, led by a guy who was doing a Grouch Marx impression--big cheesy painted on mustache and eyebrows, and a big fake cigar to complete the look. I had no inclination that I could run a 4:15 as my third marathon in a week, but it seemed like a fun group.

Starting gun! The route is all city streets until the last 7K or so. A few nice parks here and there, but lots of city. I fell in with a group of people from Great Britain for a while, welcoming the English speakers. That´s one of the things we take for granted I suppose, but in a country where the dominant language is Spanish (duh, it´s Spain) there are limited numbers of people to talk to. "Animo!" is the common cheer from the sidelines. ("I animate" technically, but more like "look alive, go for it" in context.)

I was feeling good all day, finishing the first 20K in two hours. I had a pretty good idea by then that it would be my fastest of the first three continents. Running a marathon marked in kilometers is fun too, because they go by a lot faster than miles. OK, there´s 42 of them instead of 26, but what the heck. All day I was following a member of the 100 marathon club (it was his 180th today) and I used him to pull me along. Somewhere between 35 and 36K I lost him. I think I passed him actually, but I just don´t know. It was about that time that we went off road and thorough what looked like a campus for the last 7K. People who had passed me all day were now in front of me, slowing down as we counted the kilometers up to 41. I encouraged lots of people as I passed, most of whom could understand me but smiled anyway and were happy to have someone there. At 41, we started running down a long walkway which led by the stadium. I could look over and see the finish line inside the stadium, then ran past it and around the outside, finally moving over and down the ramp. Just 3/4 lap to go, past the 42K mark, 195 more meters to the FINISH. YES! Somewhere around 4:26 chip time, and 4:29 on the gun. Marathon #3 in the books!

The finisher medal was real nice--not a medal at all, but a crystal "trophy" with runners in the middle and the name of the marathon on the bottom. Very cool!

I wondered around until I found a taxi for the trip back. Legs still feel good. Not quite sure why, but I hope it keeps up. I get a week off now--Antarctica is scheduled for the 26th. Tomorrow I get to goof off all day in Valencia before heading for Argentina to meet the Marathon Tours Group.

Hey. Maybe I should mention this: Man O' War Marathon CITY TO CITY RUN to Defeat Malaria. Donating Bti (bacillus thurengiensis var israelensis) to Equator Belt Countries. This bacteria naturally kills mosquitoes without disrupting personal health or environment, as opposed to spraying DDT. More info at http://malaria.pledgepage.org/

FIRST RUN - BIRMINGHAM, AL USA

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NOTE: READ THE FRONT PAGE OF CITY TO CITY WORLD RECORD
MARATHON ATTEMPT and pay attention to people like DiMicco who are genuinely nice people, who, still disregard the CITY TO CITY effort to Defeat Malaria as anything but a “guy who juggles or runs backwards” how odd!
don hall
Blazin' the Trail

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Runner's record-setting global trek starts here
Page 2 of 2

"They actually moved the marathon from Sunday to Tuesday because there were so many people running the Antarctica Marathon who would also run their marathon," Kern said.

Four days after running in Argentina, he will hit the road in the Six Foot Track Marathon in Sydney, Australia. He's set to end his trek on Sunday, March 18, in the Donga Marathon in Seoul, South Korea.

Al DiMicco, a Birmingham Track Club member who trains people to run marathons, believes Kern's plan is plausible.

"It's just the logistics of doing it and having the money," he said. "He's just running seven marathons in five weeks, which is certainly something that's been done before. He's not even going to have a problem of jet lag, probably."

`Computer Guy, Writer':

DiMicco lumps Kern with runners who juggle while running or run the route backwards.

"They're the ones that get most of the press - the fringe runners," he said. "It just bothers me. The masses take it seriously. They're going to be out there four months, five months training seriously, looking to improve their health or raise money."

Kern's business card reads, "Computer Guy, Writer, Adventurer, and Other Cool Stuff." He said he has about three computer clients he serves as his livelihood, when he's not working as the race director of the Grand Rapids Marathon.

His mother was a factory worker, his father a custodian. He has two adult children and four grandchildren. He chronicles his various adventures on a blog on his Web site, www.cool- adventures.net.

"I didn't come from any place with a silver spoon in my mouth or millionaire grandparents who were going to finance me," he said. "I don't own a boat and I don't smoke cigarettes, so I do have some surplus income."