Children’s cancer is simply too unfair to ignore. It hits randomly and steals lives early, too early. Margo was very dear to me. She passed away on Monday June 7th 2010. She was 14. Margo fought her cancer with remarkable courage. She never gave up. Until the end, she kept her cute smile and, unbelievably, remained more concerned about others than herself. Life is unfair, I know, but there is no reason to accept it and therefore no reason not to do something about it?

On November 6^th, I will be running the NYC Marathon for Margo. I have a personal best in NY of 2h49’14 established in 2003. I am using this marathon race as an opportunity to raise money for children cancer research and help beat that thing.

So, if you want to help beat children cancer, commit to donate money based on my finish time.

-If I run 3h15 – 3h00 then commit $1 per mile or $26 dollars (euros for the euro-zone)

-If I run 3h00 – 2h49’14 then commit $2 per mile or $52 dollars

-If I break my 2h49’14 personal best then commit $4 per mile or $104 dollars

Your help is needed and would be very much appreciated. I am not in the shape I was in 2003 but I am trying to make the most of the remaining training weeks. This being said, it is unlikely that I will run a new personal best this year but I believe I can break 3 hours.

If you want to make a commitment to donate money, just send me an email that indicates your intention. Also, if you want to help me raise money or join me in my training runs you are welcomed. I can use all the help I can get.

Thank you.

Pascal Lauffer,

FaceBook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146595978765482

I got a call at 4:40 AM on Monday August 15th. It was a wake-up call in many ways. While it was not about sport, it somehow motivated me to do something drastic to save my fall marathon season and 2011 as a matter of fact. You could argue that with 8 weeks to go until Chicago and 12 until NY there is not much to do. I am out of shape. I have run 30 miles in the past 2 weeks. I have been getting slower race after race; I could barely break 1h25 at my last half marathon. What is there to do in a few weeks? Well, probably not much but if there is one thing I love is a challenge. So let’s see what we can do about it. What’s the worst that can happen really?

If I want to achieve anything, I have to break most of the rules of marathon training. I don’t have the luxury of time therefore I will use choc therapy instead.

Here is my 10 point choc therapy marathon training program:

1/ Immediately increase weekly mileage by a factor of 4 to reach 50-55 miles and then increase mileage to 70-75 within 3 weeks

2/ Shoehorn a 20 mile run within a week at 7’30’’ per mile pace if possible but with the main priority of finishing the 20 miles

3/ Race the Bronx half marathon on August 28 aiming at 1h22 and then add 7 miles easy to reach 20 miles

4/ Run the 18 mile tune up race on September 25th at 3h marathon pace

5/ Race the Greet Great Gallop Half marathon on October 01 aiming at a sub 1h20

6/ Forget all ambition for Chicago on October 9^th and make it a training run aiming at 3h00

7/ Take a full resting week after the Chicago

8/ Resume training for the last 3 weeks cutting down volume while keeping intensity

9/ Aim at breaking my NYC marathon PR of 2h49’21’’

10/ I will keep the last one a secret just in case…

Let’s see how well that will go! I will keep you posted.

Pascal,

My dear lovely Margo,

I am back. I must admit. I have been in a hole lately. Life sometime has a way to
kick you in the gut and kick you again when you are on your knees. It happens to all of us eventually. It happened to you early, too early. It is an understatement to say that life has not been kind to you lately. There is no need to talk about the why or the fairness of it. It is what it is and the only thing you can do is fight for what is yours, fight for your life.

Last year, I ran the Paris Marathon for you. You were with me all the way and especially during the hardest moments. I broke the 2h45 barrier that had eluded me for so long. I had never run that far that fast in my life. The “Go Margo” of the crowd helped me keep pushing although I knew I was in trouble. In the end, I broke 2h45 by just 7 little seconds.

You know that I am not the kind of person who jumps up and down in joy. I must say though that I was happy and proud. I knew you were on the finish line and I was committed to reaching my goal for you. I could not have let you down. There was always that little door in my head. The one you want to open when things get too hard. The one that would make everything stops. The one written “give up” on it. I managed to keep it closed although I was still fighting for seconds after hours of effort. You helped me keep this door closed and you helped me succeed.

The Paris Marathon is only 2 months away. This year again I will be “Running For Margo”. I am still recovering from an ankle injury and can barely run 1 hour for now. I am in the worst shape I have been in years but I will do it. I will run with your father and I will try to stay with him as long as I can.  This will be in preparation for my next event. I have 4 months to get in shape for Nice Ironman.  I don’t know yet how I am going to pull this one out but I will. This is something I must do in esteem to your courage fighting cancer.

GO MARGO

Pascal,