The plan and the rationale

Hi everybody!

My name is Matt, and I'm about to do something unbelievable for the second time. OK, so its not really that unbelievable. Apparently thousands of people do it in South Africa every year. Nevertheless, whenever I mention what I'm going to do, invariably people scoff. With that said, it's probably about time I got around to telling you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to run to work.

If you don't know me and my present situation, you're probably a little incredulous right now. You may be asking yourself, "All that build up for that? People run to work everyday." You may even run daily yourself.

So, let me tell you a little more about myself. I live in San Francisco. I work in marketing for Google in Mountain View. My commute is about 37 miles. Google maps says it should take about 40 minutes by car. On a bad day, it can be more like an hour and a half, if not two hours. I expect it will take me about 7.5 hours to run.

This isn't something I do regularly either. I've never run a marathon. In fact, I actually once promised myself that I never would (luckily the extra distance involved here lets me gently side-step the cognitive dissonance that statement now holds). The furthest I've ever run is about 13 miles.

Hopefully, a few of you have started to scoff. But, I shouldn't set this up as some herculean feat. As I mentioned, thousands of people run this far (farther actually) in South Africa each year, and thousand more run "ultra-marathons" every year. In fact, I'm actually lucky enough to have a number of great friends willing to run with me. Six of them actually. All of whom you'll hopefully get to know if you follow our blog.

In all honesty, 37 miles pales in comparison to the first unbelievable thing I did, and the ultimate motivation for this stunt. When I graduated from college, I joined Teach for America and taught 7th grade math and science in an under-resources school in New Orleans, LA.

Again, many of you are probably incredulous. Hundreds of thousands of people become teachers each year. Many of them in under-resourced schools like the one in which I taught. So, possibly I misrepresented this story somewhat. Becoming a teacher was probably not all that unbelievable. What was unbelievable was the situation that drove me to become a teacher.

In fact, I would argue that unbelievable is really the only way to describe the education achievement gap between rich and poor in the US. We live in the richest country in the world, yet children from the bottom socioeconomic quintile are still 7 times less likely to attend college as their peers in the top quintile. In a country that prides itself on equal opportunities for all and the dream of rising from rags to riches thats seems simply unexceptable to me.

So I joined Teach for America and became a teacher. It was the most rewarding two years of my life. No ad campaign I've ever worked on has compared to helping a child learn to read. None.

That said, it wasn't for me. My talents were better suited to the world of business, and I moved on. I've always wanted to stay involved, and this run is my latest attempt to do so.

This year, Teach for America will place 4,100 teachers in schools around the country. Combined with existing corps members, they'll reach over 400,000 students, and research indicates they'll have a significant positive impact on those students academic achievements.

That's an enormous accomplishment, and I think it deserves an enormous tribute. And, that's why I'm running to work. I wanted to raise awareness of Teach for America and help raise the money it takes to accomplish all of this. My goal is to raise enough money to fund one teacher in the bay area. $5000.

So, if any of this has inspired you, made you angry or even just made you laugh, please take the time to make a donation. All funds will go directly to sponsoring a teacher in the bay. Unlike some other fund raising runs, none of the money will be used for flights to exotic race locals. After all, I'm just trying to get to work ;)

I plan to make the run on October 16th, and, of course, your donations will only be taken if I complete the commute -- and work a full day ;) Over the next four months, I'll be training and updating this blog, so please come back often to follow all the fun. I've included my training schedule below to give you some idea of what's to come.

In honor of my silicon valley location and profession, I'll also be including a few special pre-release alpha and beta version of the commute. Versions 0.1 and o.5, if you will. I'll let you know more as they approach. That's all for now. I need to start training! I hope you enjoy the blog, and I hope you'll support the cause.

Training Schedule

Week M T W TH F S SU 6/29 Rest 6-10 miles, including 4x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 7-9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 90-minute run 3-hour run (or about 18 miles) 7/6 Rest 6-10 Miles, including 4x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 7-9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 90-minute run 3-hour run 7/13 Rest 6-10 miles, including 2x2 miles at HMP Easy 5-mile jog 7-9 miles, middle 3 at MP (5:00) Rest 2-hour run 3.5-hour run (or about 20 miles) 7/20 Rest 5-8 miles, including 3x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 6 miles, middle 2 at MP Rest 1.5-hour run 2-hour run 7/27 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 3.5- to 4-hour run (or about 20-24 miles) 3-hour run 8/3 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 3.5- to 4-hour run 3-hour run 8/10 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 mile at HMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 3.5- to 4-hour run 3-hour run, last hour at MP 8/17 Rest 9 miles, including 3x2 miles at HMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 2-hour run 2.5-hour run 8/24 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 miles at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 4-hour run 3.5-hour run, last hour at MP 8/31 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 miles at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 4-hour run 3.5-hour run, last hour at MP 9/7 Rest 9 miles, including 3x2 miles at HMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 2.5-hour run 3-hour run 9/14 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 4-hour run 5-hour run (or about 27-29 miles) 9/21 Rest 9 miles, including 6x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 4-hour run 5-hour run 9/28 Rest 9 miles, including 4x1 mile at TMP Easy 5-mile jog 9 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 2-hour run 2-hour run 10/5 Rest 7 miles, including 3x1 mile at MP Easy 5-mile jog 7 miles, middle 3 at MP Rest 1.5-hour run Easy 1-hour jog 10/12 Rest 6 miles, middle 3 at HMP Easy 5-mile jog Rest: Stay off your feet Run to Work! Rest. (Duh.)