Austin, TX marathon DONE!! 2 down 10 to go!!!

Sitting on the plane listening to jay - z blueprint 3 album. I just got it. I met jay once when i was working at virgin megastore in Hollywood. He was doing a signing and the employees got to meet him first. I made some silly joke about the marker he used to sign my cd being out of ink ( I asked if it was invisible ink?) he took a beat about to explain the marker was simply dried up, but realized I was kidding and started laughing. He said I was funny. That was pretty cool. I've been a fan of his ever since :) I like my rap with cursing, sorry Will Smith.

Friday

I had a rough flight in on Friday. In fact it was a rough few days leading up to it sleep wise. The anxiousness and stress of what I'm doing and trying to do may be taking a small toll on me. I'm having difficulty winding down at night and find myself waking up several times a night. My girlfriends been doing the same since I've known her, maybe she's just rubbing off on me. (that sounds dirty).

Deb had to drive me early in the morning and she had a long night at work the night before, so the two of us were zombied out. Before we left she wrote on my hats the state, city and date of my race. The hats are for me and for my guide. Or in this case guides.

At my gate before I boarded I got a great phone call from Liz telling me she was able to get me a meeting with lance Armstrong right before the marathon. I got pretty excited about that and I thought that was a good start to the weekend.

I took off On time but had an almost 2 hour lay over in el paso which turned into closer to 4 hours due to heavy winds in LA? Well that's what I heard. I was afraid of it getting worse because I had set up a fundraiser that night at an improv theater where I was going to perform for the first time in 8 months.

The last half of the short flight from el paso to Austin was turbulent. Thick dark saturated clouds made me feel how fast we were really going and hitting pockets on the way. Pockets of what? It feels like running over mini speed bumps.

It was raining alright. Soaked. And from what I hear the city needed it. Well that's fine but I didn't need it.

I got my checked Marlboro bag which I still mean to get rid of but I keep using it and it stands out on a carousel. (I use to smoke). Went out to find my ride. Two cars pulled up and out of one came my dad my cousin Katie, the other my mom and Katie's husband Jim. Katie and Jim moved to Austin about a year ago and Katie , by coincidence, was running the same marathon as me but just the first half with her friend, Alice from Canada. My parents have been traveling/vacationing for the last 6 weeks in Florida and south padre island, tx. Austin was there last stop before hopping a plane back to long island.

We didn't have too much time before my show. I needed some form of food and something to drink during my show, "shootin' the shit', a single scene long form improv show that takes place in a bar and I've been doing it on and off for about 8 years. Its a form I can easily invite guests to play in. And that's what I was doing this time.

After a quick soup and salad at chik fil a we headed over to the Institution Theater owned and run by Tom Booker. Tom was my first teacher at Second city almost 9 years ago in LA. He moved to Austin a few years back. And I knew Irene White from iO West in LA. She moved to Austin 2 years ago and is a fantastic improvisor and person. So those two were my guests for the show.

Liz works for CNN and was in touch with me about last months dr drew appearAnce. She was planning on having a crew at the Austin run and even being at my show. And sure enough there she was with her man Marcus. Really sweet couple.

My camera guys Patrick and John came into town the day before for other stuff and were able to get some root beers for the show that we were going to pretend was real beer. I got there plenty early and said hi to tom and Irene and Liz and whoever else I needed to say hi to. It was going to be a mild audience. The rain was probably going to keep some people away if they were planning on coming out. Didn't matter. I was pretty delirious and was really looking forward to sleeping.

We did a quick 25 min ish show for about 15 people. I had fun and Tom and Irene were great. Afterwards we said our goodbyes although I didn't get a pic with the three of us together and I've been kicking myself ever since.

I stayed with Katie and jim in driftwood where they have an outstanding house. My parents, and the guys got their own hotel rooms. Katie picked up Alice from the airport but by that time I was trying to wind down. It was about 1am or so Austin time that I got to sleep.

Saturday

Up around 7 I think. Maybe 730. Katie was making breakfast for everybody. So everybody came over at 8am. I spent three hours a couple of nights earlier on the computer looking for Austin press to contact about my story. I sent out dozens of Emails and they were starting to pay off. I had two interviews that morning. One with a local school radio station and the other is a big newspaper called the Statesman. I was meeting both at the expo. The expo is where you go to get your bib number and there's hundreds or thousands of people shopping for running stuff.

I met with Erika. She was waiting for me with an intern named autumin. Both ladies were very sweet and fun to talk with. It was the radio interview. Erika talked with me for about 30 min but only about less than 2 minutes made it to the airwaves. I mentioned that I was going to meet lance Armstrong and she brought up apparent charges that had recently been dropped against him for enhancement performing drugs. I said that was the first I was hearing about it, but I don't think she believed me. But I didn't have enough info to give an accurate answer so that's what I told her and it was true. Don't harsh my buzz Erika.

Heres a link to that interview.....

http://bit.ly/y7psvq

My "entourage". Was huddled around a small table in the expo waiting for me. I felt bad because all this stuff took hours. Because my next interview was with Ciara with the statesman. She came with a photographer (jay). They brought me to an empty hallway of the expo, took some pics and Ciara talked with me on the floor of the hallway for a good while. She didn't have a recorder of any kind just her pad and pen. I was impressed by her quick shorthand.

Heres the Statesman interview....

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/blind-runner-competing-in-austin-marathon-for-retinal-2185081.html

Afterwards I went back to my group and Katie took me to get my bib and some clif bloks for the next days race. We had some time before Ryan and Maureen, his girlfriend, would get to the expo from the airport. They just landed and were renting a car. Ryan had hurt his foot, I forget the name, miniscus? Anyway he was originally going to run the whole thing with me. He ran my very first half marathon with me in August 2010 in Chicago. He's the one on a lot of the tv and even press I've gotten he's the one with me. But he was concerned about doing a full marathon with how his foot was feeling and we had already booked flight and registered under his name for the race, so Maureen was kind enough to volunteer to relay guide me.

When they showed up we talked about his foot. He said it still hurt a lot and was real concerned with it. Minutes earlier katie came up to me and volunteered herself for a future full marathon as long as I gave her time to train. Cut back, I turned to Katie and asked her if she could run with me the first half. Or more accurately the first 11 miles. That's where the halfers split off in the course. Without hesitation, she was on board. Great. So how it was going to work was Katie the first 11 miles, Maureen the next 11 and Ryan to swing in for the final 4.2 and "take all the glory" as he said. So this was going to be interesting. But I was excited for the support and love from everybody.

So everything was set and it was time to split off. I went with Katie to her house and we got ready for a big pasta filled meal that she was making that night. A couple hours later everybody was there. 10 people in total scarfing down pasta and garlic bread like there's no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow. There most certainly is. And tomorrow was going to be a big deal.

Sunday

Dammit! Another night of no sleep. Okay no sleep is an exaggeration but I only got about 4-5 hours. Took forever to settle my mind after I packed And set up just hours earlier. 3 am I woke up. And I was already slightly panicked.

Did I mention the rain hadn't stopped from the time I landed Friday til sometime during this past night? The weather report said no rain so I was fairly confident that wouldn't be an issue. Here's to hoping for an accurate weather report.

I layed in bed for a while and checked up on my social networking. Eventually I got up and just started to try to get my head straight. I decided not to tell anyone how little sleep I got so I wouldn't worry them and so they would cause me any extra worry.

We needed to meet lance Armstrong at 615 in a parking lot. Since Katie lives a bit far out we left her place at 530am. It was pitch black outside and DRY! The plan was that my three guides were going to meet lance as well. We got to the parking lot early and I was excited. Liz met with us with her camera crew and said he would show between 615 and 640. Uh... Ok... But I need to stretch! And all that's around is either concrete road or wet grass. Ok not as dry as I said earlier. I usually stretch on the ground and I was not quite sure what to do. It was cold out for sure. While getting dressed I wisely put on a long sleeve shirt under my short sleeve. Man did I need it. Probably in the 40s at that time.

I got word that only Katie and I were going to meet lance. I felt bad getting Ryan and Maureen's hopes up to meet him. That was a bit of a downer. But a van pulled up about ten yards away or so and two figures started jogging over my way. It was pretty dark out and without the light from the camera crew it would've been tough to make out lance. He shook hands and did greetings with Liz and the crew and then myself and Katie. It was a very pleasant exchange until the awkward silence. Was I suppose to say something? Or him? Actually I was waiting for questions to be asked to either lance or myself. And finally they started coming from the cameraman. Lance was talking about the livestrong foundation and run and was saying some really nice things about me. He had read my story and said he even tried to walk around his kitchen with his eyes closed. I'd like to believe that's true. But he was a real nice guy and I think it's really impressive the things he's done and I'm sure I don't know even half of what good he's done in the world. I wonder how much responsibility or pressure he feels. I wonder if he still wakes up two hours before his alarm goes off from a restless mind. I would've Like to ask him these questions but I didn't want to cross a line. But I was able to get a few jokes in there and make him laugh a bit. That was cool. He was going to run about 15 miles of the race. Turns out the course passes by his neighborhood so he was going to run home.

I got a couple pics with him and off we all went towards the starting line. I was trying to meet up with a guy that was trying to do a quick interview with me for tv and it was too chaotic and I ended up in a place I did'nt think I would be at so I missed that guy. I was brought to the beginning of the race line with my camera guy and Katie. I handed off my stuff to Ryan and said I'll see ya later. Lance went to make an announcement and say hi to the runners on mic. While I was brought to a spot on the course. I was suppose to wait for my coral. No problem because I still haven't stretched! And the race was about 2 minutes away from starting. I dropped to the ground and stretched as best as I could with limited room and even more limited comfort. Katie, alice and Patrick tried to block the runners that were heading toward the start from stepping all over me.

After as adequate a stretch as I could get I put my blindfold on and asked Katie to put suntan lotion on my exposed areas. Cuz I forgot about that too!! And the sun was coming up, even though there were some clouds still hanging out from the previous days.

Ok ready not it's time to run. And here go....

I heard 18,000 people were running that day. I knew it would be crowded the first 11 miles until the split. The majority of the people were running only half. And it's a really windy , crazy course from the map. So the first couple hours were going to be tricky. Little did I know how hilly the course was. Man!! That shit was murder on my calves and my butt. Alice voluntarily became my scout. Much like my cousin Jenny did for my full marathon Chicago, 10/10/10. She went ahead of us and asked people to move out of the way. That was invaluable.

It wasnt raining but I was freezing. It was windy and the sweat on my long sleeve shirt was cold against my body. That was making nervous. I needed less cold and less hills. We did the exchange at mile 11 and Maureen joined me. We had maybe the biggest hill yet after she started running with me. How I like to run the marathons is a light stride to the mile maker and then walk for a minute or so and take off to the next marker. Usually around mile 20 I need to take more walking breaks. well I kept that up until about mile 14, then we did run for 5 min and walking break, run for 5 min and walking break. I was afraid the whole course was going to be hilly, lucky most of the second half was flat or going down. Going down is better than going up but it has it's own discomfort. I'm landing on my feet harder and I can feel that on my joints. But I was making it. And it was getting warmer.

I could hear my family as I would pass cheering and others cheered along the way too. Some runners even ran up to me to talk about seeing me on tv or reading about me in the statesman that morning. Some really kind words were said and that was really great.

I had no idea how I was doing time wise. I figured pretty bad because of the hills and extra walking breaks. But I didn't care. My focus was to finish. That's it.

Mile 22 came up and the final exchange of the day with Ryan. 4.2 miles to go. I was going to make it. I knew it. No turning back. I can smell the finish line which was impressive considered how badly I smelled.

I ran almost the whole last mile without a break. I wanted that finish line and I wanted it now. I could hear the crowd and the announcer at the finish. In front of me was a woman who ran the whole thing in firemans garb. She was running for fallen firefighters I think. That's pretty crazy too. Lucky for her it wasn't hot out that day. She would've been in trouble I think. But look who's talking.

The announcer said something about me as I crossed the finish, I have no idea what he said. Ryan confirmed my finish and I gave him a big hug.

I was met at the finish by Liz and the dr drew crew. My parents were there too, but I couldn't see anybody still because I had my eyes closed even though I took off the blindfold. My mom gave me a big crying hug and she could barely get out any words through her sobs. And as Liz asked me questions I started getting pretty emotional myself. That'll make for good tv. :). And then Sara from fox 7 news was there too. We had set up trying to meet all weekend. I talked with her real brief but i was excited to be interviewed by her.

Heres that interview...

Livestrong Austin Marathon: MyFoxAUSTIN.com

So that was it. After taking some pictures scarfing down a bagel and some water it was time to take a walk to the car. Oh great a walk.

Another guy wanted to interview me at my hotel. That night and the next I stayed at a hotel. I was brought to the hotel and John got me a subway sandwich. I showered finally after my brief interview and my meal. And after I put bags of ice on my thighs and knees.

I didn't really want to go out anywhere so I stayed in, Ryan and Maureen got me some ice cream and said their goodbyes. THey had an early flight the next morning. I was tired and really just wanted to go to sleep. I was able to catch myself on fox at 5pm and taped it on my phone. Maybe theres one online thats better.

Later I watched Celebrity Apprentice. Im rooting for Adam Corolla and Lisa Lampanelli. Lisa did my very first benefit show in 2004 in LA and Adam had me on his radio show when I was promoting the bike trip across country that my brother in law did and I went with him.

my final time was 5hrs 41min 12sec. Not bad. way better than i thought i would do. But i only had 2 pee breaks during the race and that probably helped my time.

The next day my parents and I went to the LBJ Library and swung by the capital so I could take a closer look at that. And had a nice dinner with Katie, Jim and Alice.

Tuesday morning was my flight and I squeezed in a quick interview with Texas University tv station. If I find the link I'll put it up here.

I would end up leaving some stuff in Patricks rental van and he would check it with a bag of his, which southwest then LOST! So im missing a camera and some clothes which SUCKS!!! Hopefully theyll pop up.

Im now finishing this blog at my house in LA. I taped the Dr Drew show yesterday and just watched it air today. Nice guy that Dr Drew and a great crew that works at the show. Everybodys really nice there. i like it there. :)

I guess thats it for now. I really need some more press for this year. My next marathon is Los Angeles. I have a fundraiser on MARCH 30th at 8pm at SECOND CITY on Hollywood Blvd. Im trying to get a celeb guest to improvise with.

Also i just signed up for the Hollywood Half Marathon April 7th. Yes Im crazy. But you may be crazier for reading this whole blog. Good on you!!

Please help spread the word and reTweet and rePost and donate and do whatever you can. Thanks so much!!! St Louis Marathon in APRIL!!!!

best

EJ

@ejscott

@12marathons2012

1 down 11 to go!! I finished the Arizona Marathon!!!

Writing this in a car. I had stated this blog last night and shortly after felt the incredible need for not only rest, but sleep. Didn't do my usual routine of brushing, flossing, Listerine, eye vitamins. I just closed my eyes. And that was that. Woke up a couple times during the night. I was at a motel 6 next to a railroad so it wasn't the quietest place to stay. No matter, I had some of the deepest sleep I can remember. I'm sure I dreamt, but of what, I have no idea. I'm not usually good at remembering dreams. They seem to drip through my memory like water through fingers.

The cab ride was short and sweet to the Motel. The final price was 11 or 12 bucks but theres a $16 minimum from the airport. Off to a great start.

On Friday after arriving in phoenix, I checked in with motel 6. When I made my reservation for the room I requested a room on the second floor. I know what its like to have people walk above me and I don't like it. It affects my sleep. And I knew I'd need some the next night. Even though I made the request online months before they had no room for me on the second floor. Ok, I'll need to change rooms tomorrow though.

I checked in to my crummy first floor room, complete with a tube tv, drippy faucet in the sink and lack of shampoo. That's what you get for $45.99 a night.

That's ok, because I got a response from one of the 2 dozen local Arizona reporters I emailed 2 days earlier. She loved my story and wanted to meet me and interview me right away. Great!

Elizabeth Erwin was running herself this coming Sunday doing the half marathon, which was a different course than the one I was taking. She was a one woman army. She drove up in a KPHO 5 CBS van by herself. She pointed out a good shady spot for me to stand while she opened her van doors and dug around for camera equipment. She pulled out a tripod, set it up and mounted a camera, brought a lav mic to me and asked if I could hide the wire under my shirt. She was incredibly pleasant and frantic at the same time.

It looked like she was set up. She stood behind the camera and began her questions. She looked at her readings on the camera almost every time I was answering her question, but I could tell she was trying not to. I was amazed she had no camera man or even a driver to help her out. After several questions she set herself up in front of the camera to make it look like she had a camera man. It was quite impressive actually. She took some close up shots of my hat, shoes and cane and I grabbed a quick pic with her she wished me luck and was off to who knows where. The whole thing took ten minutes I'd say. She said the piece would air at ten that night. Cool!

HERE IT IS...

The rock n roll marathon had been advertising a concert that night at cityscape. I had planned to attend. But I also knew I wanted to get over to the Torch Improv theatre that night too. I was hoping to do both.

The said online the doors opened at 430. So I was. There not ling after that. I took a cab. And cabs ain't cheap in AZ. I was walking around outside where the concert was going to be taking place. It's a band I never heard of but they also advertised food. What else did I have to do? Everybody seemed to still be setting up and getting ready. Setting up tables, sound checks on stage. Strangely there was booth where a guy was smoking a cigar, with good reason, he was selling cigars. really?! Cigars? Isn't this a concert for marathon runners?

I floated around and tried to waste some time. And after over an hour of barely anything changing I said screw this. And I hoped in a cab over to the Torch theatre. I knew they had a 7 pm show that night and I could grab a bite to eat around there before the show.

The theatre is a modest very cool black box type theatre. I immediately felt at home. Maybe it was because of all the blackbox theaters I've been around the last 15 years. The ticket guy, Shane, pointed out a place to eat across the street. I had about 45 minutes to kill so off I went.

After drinking a beer I'd never heard of and a cup of white bean chili with chips I was full. I watch the 7 pm show where. Group of improvisors encourage audience members to cut up newspaper clippings they supply and tack them to a board on stage before the start of the show. I put up three articles. The improvisors grab an article at random and read all of, itt seems, of the article to the audience. That then inspires scenes. Several articles were read within the hour.great idea. Great fun.

I talked with jose who'd I'd been in contact with on twitter.he's a founder of the theatre and runs the twitter account and has been hugely helpful tweeting about my race and even volunteered to try to get some footage of me running in the race. What a great guy! To make him extra great he said he'd drive me back to my motel so I didn't have to get yet another expensive cab. So I watched his 2 person show, which I enjoyed greatly, and he gave me a lift. Thanks Jose!!

I made it back to the motel in time to see me being advertised on tv fir the upcoming news. I watched the 2 minute piece and I liked it overall. Would've liked the website, wwwcurechm.org, up there but ok. Still good stuff.

I has to get to bed ASAP, because I was getting up at 5am to get me set for Sunday.

Saturday my alarm went off at 5am sharp. I did mot wake before like I sometimes do. I pulled myself out of bed and did, what I've been doing a lot of, and that's jumping on the social networks and emails. Reading encouragement from others and posting about myself and the latest with me ;)

I tried to find the best breakfast place in the area and, sadly, it was a mcdonalds. I have been doing great the last 2 1/2 years avoiding mcdonalds. I do look at them as a big contributor to poor health in this country and now all over the world because they have spread to their countries..... But I wanted some eggs so I took the very cold walk from my motel to there. It was about 6 am and still dark.

Afterwards I wasted. Lot of time watching the office on Netflix streaming but the wifi quality in the motel was not great so Michael Scott and the Office people ended up looking like claymation characters.

But I got the call from Luis that my new room on the second floor was ready. I packed then unpacked in the new room.

took a break from writing in the car and now im home. this blog is becoming more epic than i planned. if youre still reading i admire your dedication :)

After packing the next step was to wait for Patrick and John. Pat and John are a couple guys from LA helping me to document my races. They also help drive me around when I need it, which I did. They brought me to the airport to pick up Janelle. Janelle is my guide for Arizona. She was also my guide for the Chicago marathon I did. She's also married to my cousin, Keith. I keep describing her as Wonder Woman. She is always doing some crazy endurance challenge. She s a great guide.

We got her stuff dropped off at the fancy Motel 6 and headed off to the Expo. I met a very nice woman that saw my Dr Drew appearance and weve exchanged hellos on Facebook. :) But we needed carbs and needed them quick. It was kind of a trek to find Z Pizza, is what we settled on.

We settle down and wait for our meal outside and minutes later theres a tap on my shoulder and a pretty and familiar voice said something to me i wish i could remember. Something like "any room at this table?" or "Hey dont i know you?" something like that. And to my great surprise it was the prettiest face ive ever seen in my life. My girlfriend, Deborah. She drove all day from LA to surprise me. She had worked the day and night before and thats why she wasnt set to come with me originally I was totally blown away. Not many people surprise me.

We ALL sat and ate and at least Janelle and I over loaded on carbs. Its about 6pm by then and im already thinking of going to sleep. Deb and I get in the room and I lay down on my heating pad and try to settle my mind as best i can. I dosed off watching tv and the woke up and changed positions to sleep, and turned the tv off. Bit then my mind was racing a bit. It did that for at least an hour before i fell back to sleep. thats at about 10pm.

Marathon day... January 15th 2012

My eyes popped open at 415 am. And as much as i wanted them to close again, they were wide awake. I grabbed my iPad right next to the bed and did my usual checking up on all the sites I usually do. Tweeting about going to run today. Deb was up too. She didnt too well either. We start getting ready and get Janelle and the guys. Luckily Deb had bought us some breakfast which consisted on bananas, bagels, peanut butter, water and Gatorade. I loaded up my utility belt and we took two cars to the start line. Actually Janelle, Patrick and I were dropped off while John and Deb figured out parking.

It was still dark when we got to the start line. And not nearly as crowded as I was expecting. All the Chicago marathons (2 halves and a full) were BIG and crazy crowded. We had heard the day before that there were only 5,000 people running the full. And 20,000 or so running the half . Both on separate courses so this was going to be different.

We found a piece of concrete in a parking lot to stretch. its a city where we started so grass was non existent from what i could tell.

We got in line close to 730am. That's the set start time. I put my blindfold on said good bye to my girlfriend and folded up my cane. the sun was almost up by now but it looked like it was going to be overcast. I was all set to go. we all were but there kept being announcements of delays. They ended up delaying the race a half an hour. I heard it was cuz of pace truck, i heard it was because of the light rail (train) that ran through the city. Who knows. They finally started. And I crossed the start line at 8:06:14 am. How I run is i hold on to the forearm of my runner. I have tried other ways and that seems to be best for me.

I had a sign on my back "BLIND RUNNER!! with Choroideremia. 1st of 12 marathons in 2012. CURECHM.org"

The race was peppered with people saying really encouraging things to me as they ran by me or vice versa.

Biggest disappointment for me was the amount of pee breaks I took, which was strange because i didn't drink much at all before the race. and most of the breaks were early on. But if that's the worst of it then that's ok. 5 breaks altogether. I told Janelle the plan was to run to the mile marker and then walk for a minute and keep going til the end. It went pretty well. I started feeling like i was running after mile 10. My left shoulder was starting to hurt bad by then, i think because of the tetanus shot i had a few days earlier. By mile 11 I had to change sides. So now i was holding onto to Janelles left forearm with my right hand. That was much better.

I ate Cliff Bloks and fruity jello block that is meant to supply energy, and id fuel up on water and Gatorade. Every so often there were live bands set up to play and massacre covered songs, but mostly they were good :). I only heard about 30 seconds of each of them anyway.

Because there were s few people running was much easier, mentally and physically. Same with the side lines support. Far less people than Chicago so there were big stretches of calm silence which i greatly appreciated. It made the occasional WOOHOOOing that much more meaningful. That was hard for me during the Chicago ones. I was often overwhelmed audibly forthose races. Since i cant see and have to listen for instructions it was a bit crazy. In Chicago I had a bad mental break at about mile 22. After running past mile 20 in Arizona, sure i was tired and feeling soreness in my shoulders, neck and legs but my mind felt strong. I told janelle after mile 22 id like to walk a minute run for 5 and so on. And we did that for a couple miles. And by the time mile 24 rolled around i could feel the finish line and i said no to any more breaks. It was hard and those last two were the hardest ones. There soreness and some sharp pains here and there that would make me make a "ah" or "ugh" sound. But I was so close!!!

Janelle would tell me when we were getting closer and the people were higher in numbers as we got closer. I could hear music, people cheering. Janelle said she saw people with finishers medals. We rounded a corner and Janelle said we were 100 yards away. THe crowds at that point were loud and cheering and it gave me an extra shot of adrenaline and life. I heard an announcer say my name over a PA system and where i was from and what i was doing. That was a surprise too. I crossed the finish at 5:34:42. I purposely wasnt asking about my times as I ran. I didnt want to try to break any records so i can just run without that pressure. BUT it turns out i did beat my record by 3 MINUTES! Not too shabby.

Immediately after crossing the finish I heard the announcer mention the man finishing behind me saying it was his first marathon at age 75. Way to bring me down announcer guy.

I hugged Janelle and thanked her. I got a water and gatorade a bagel a banana, i devoured all of it. I wasnt too sweaty cuz there was a nice steady cooling breeze all day and that sun was mostly covered by clouds. Fantastic running weather.

I took my blindfold off but had to wait to actually open my eyes. That takes some adjustment. But then i got to see my girlfriend and get pics taken and feel that runners high people talk about. I only feel it when its over. :)

Deborah was great. She popped up a few times along the way and gave me a boost in my mood. I'm glad she surprised me.

I hobbled to the car. I called it my Frankenstein walk. The 5 of us piled into Johns tiny 2 door. And drove back to the hotel (deb and john went to get her car). Janelle and i took turns showering and then she had o go and catch her flight back to Maryland. She'll be doing a few more races with me this year. Shes amazing!

Patrick and John drove back to LA shortly after. Pat was driven around on a motorcycle for a lot of the race so he could get footage of me running. And I know Jose from the Torch Theatre was oyt there grabbing some footage too. Thanks to those guys. I cant wait to see it and show people.

Deb and I drove back today. It was a long ride I was very sore and Deb ended up getting sick (she may have allergies? we're not sure). But It was a great experience. I did feel afterwards like "yeah i gotta do that 11 more times." so my victory was short lived. :)

Next Stop Austin, Texas February 19th.

I havent hit my $144,000 goal yet. Maybe you could help? Also still need some press. Know anyone in Austin to help with that?

You can donate at the PayPal button on this page or go to www.curechm.org. Thank you!!

EJ

I will be done running in 48 hours!!! NEW BLOG!!

I'm writing this blog on the 940 am flight out of lax. I gotta write fast it's a short flight to Phoenix Arizona. I put down the Hal higdon, a major runner and marathoner and I'm listening to the raconteurs last album.

I'm thinking about a few things, one is I just learned at the gate waiting for my plane, a guy I knew just died of cancer. His name was mike, and although I didn't know him very well and we never spent much time together, I knew he was a really great guy and talented improvisor and my first teacher when I moved to Chicago three years ago at iO. I was coming in at the tail end of a eight week class, but I felt welcomed. So I'm a bit sad for him and his family and friends and the improv community. He wad a young guy. Nobody deserves that. RIP mike.

My eyes popped open several times during the night, a restless mind nervous about missing the alarm. I didn't of course. I was up a half hour before it even went off. Made some eggs and toast, checked my online social network sights and finished up my packing I started the night before.

I over packed. Wasn't going to check a bag, but I packed so much, I had to. Over did it with running gear; clothes, cliff blocks, jelly belly energy (yum), waterproof tape, my laminated signs I will run with pinned to me, my new running "utility belt" that will hold my water bottles, energy stuff I'll need before and during the race, maybe a phone or wallet. And, of course, my blindfolds. I'll be using two this time. A dark bandana will go on under the giant white cloth I've used in past races. The bandana is a new edition. We'll see how that works out.

I'm excited..... Really.... I am. Ok sure, I'm nervous. Mostly of getting injured. But I should be ok, if I don't try to show off. I gotta listen to my common sense and my body. I'm not trying to break any records (but it would be nice to do better than my last time of 5 hours 37 min and seconds that I forget.

But really I have 7 hours from the last person crossing the start line to finish according to the rules. Plenty of time.

I've already gotten way more press and attention than I did for Chicago. So we are off to a fantastic start. Already raised over $20,000 since announced this in the summer. A long way to go and almost a whole year to get there.

I said goodbye to my sleepy, yet shockingly beautiful, girlfriend when my ride came. I'll be able to talk to her on my new iPhone. Upgraded from my piece of shit sprint flip phone, thank god!

I'm sure it'll be really emotional this whole year for me. Just the support I've been getting through Facebook, emails, twitter, texts and actually voice to voice and face to face interactions have been incredible and so moving for me. Puts a smile on my face every time.

Whenever I tell strangers or new people what I'm doing their reactions are great and they're usually shocked. I'm accused of being crazy and then they wish me the best of luck.

Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I'll contact Guinness. What's the record for miles run in marathons blindfolded? There's got be a category right? Maybe they'll make a new category :)

I'll be in touch. Follow me.
@ejscott
@12marathons2012

Donate here on the blogspot ...
Www.ejcurechm.blogspot.com
Or www.curechm.org

Even your loose change can make a difference and please retweet or post or email or whatever you can do. Also still looking for sponsorship and press. Thank you. We are about to land.

Ej

Been a while since I blogged. Here's an update....

Well, I've grown 8 inches taller since my last blog... What!? I'm just being silly. Sorry.

Weighed in today at 211.4 lbs! I've lost about 26 lbs sinc July. It's been really tough and portion

control remains a hugehallenge.

I'm training at a local gym who shall remain nameless because when I told a few workers there what I was training for they got excited at the idea of the gym jumping on board and helping in possible sponsorship. When I contact Andrea in marketing she shot me down cold. Saying it isn't in their budget. Really? Because one thing I suggested is totally free, by including my info in your emails to your members or even allowing me to put up some literature of what I am doing. Btw all free. Ok it's la fitness. They are the closest gymto me and it would've been great if they could've helped out. Anyways this isn't a bash lafitness blog. That's the next blog :)

So my training is going ok. I'm traing a couple times a week with a personal trainer at lafitness to help strengthen my weak back. And im back following Hal higdons novice marathon traing schedule. I'm slightly behind but was able to get to13 miles on the treadmill yesterday.

I've got my girlfriends publicist who is trying together me some publicity and my girlfriends agent trying to help me get the marathons made into a documentary. There are some great possibilities if some of this stuff could happen. I have to be careful not to get my hopes up too high.

Today I have cross training to do. And I get a rest day tomorrow. Instill hoping to get my weight down to around 200 by January. I've got 9 weeks from today. 9 weeks til the first marathon in Arizona.

I'm still looking for all the help I can get,soif you or someone you know can help get thewordoutplease let me know. Thanks!!

And please donate! Any amount is a huge help.

Best toyou.

Ej

Pilates!!! OUCH!

Had my first pilates class on Friday and am just about recovered. Its the kind with the machines. My girlfriend took great delight in my anguish and pain. (I'm so nice to her). My next class is tomorrow. Hope it goes well.

Figuring out these 12 marathons are a bit of a pain. My wish list is as follows...

(in no particular order)

Seattle

NYC

Los Angeles

Chicago

Austin

Phoenix

Las Vegas

Miami

Philadelphia

New Orleans

Washington,DC

San Diego

Because a few of these marathons are too close together I wont be able to do New Orleans or Washington DC. Im also going to have to skip Philly and San Diego.

Im working to figure out which ones would be good to do instead. July August and September are a bit tricky. Looks like Ill have to do much smaller marathons for these months.

As of now it looks like this...

Jan - Phoenix, Az

Feb - Austin, TX

Mar - Los Angeles, CA

Apr - Las Vegas, NV

May - Cleveland, OH

Jun - Seattle, WA

Jul - ?

Aug - ?

Sep - ?

Oct - Chicago, IL

Nov - NYC, NY

Dec - Miami, FL

I am already signed up for Phoenix and about to buy Austin and LA. Wish me luck. And please help spread the word. Trying hard to get publicity for this stuff. thank you.

EJ

www.curechm.org

12 MARATHONS in 12 DIFFERENT CITIES in 2012 BLINDFOLDED!!

I'm fat again. Not as fat as I was last time, but fat none the less. On July 1 two years ago I began losing weight (70lbs). And I did it in just over 8 months. I ran a marathon this past October and since then I have put back on about 40lbs. Food is an evil tempting bitch who I have a very strong love/hate relationship with. There's a lot of passion there.

So this past July 1 st (just a week ago). I went back to being a good boy. No bad stuff for me. I was at 237 ish and today I'm down to 230lbs. Down 7 lbs in a week. Hopefully I can keep it going because I have decided to run 12 marathons in 2012. I must be out of my mind.

I got some publicity in Chicago for the one I ran in Oct and hoping to get a lot more for next year. I'm trying to raise $144,000 by the beginning of 2013. That's an average of $12,000 per marathon. (is the theme too subtle?)

I'm in need of publicity. If you know someone or are someone that can help, please let me know. I can be contacted pretty much anywhere.

I already signed up for my first marathon in January 2012 in Arizona with my running guide, Janelle. She helped me in Chicago for the October run.

I'll be keeping blog updates here on a semi regular basis. So please come back and visit and let your twitter followers and facebook friends know.

THANK YOU!!!!

EJ

The Chicago Marathon BLINDFOLDED!!! 10/10/10

It's Thursday now. 4 days after the marathon I trained 9 months for. I thought I'd write sooner but I'm finally healing. :)

Last monday I was in the bathroom and thought I should start getting my apartment ready for visitors. As I was cleaning the bathroom sink something pulled in my back. Spasm might be a better word. Luckily I had already made an appointment with my chiropractor for that same morning. My history of back pain goes way back, but training for this marathon has aggravated it quite a bit. I went every day last week Mon-Fri for adjustments. Never feeling 100%, but feeling better. I was concerned about my back for the race. Thats the last thing I need, is a bad back for 26.2 miles.

My training was now getting affected. I had to skip a few training days due to fear. Fear I would damage myself too much to participate.

I was lucky enough to get CBS news interested in what I was doing. And Megan Mawicke came to my gym to interview me.

I was interviewed over the phone by Kyra Kyles for the RedEye and that finally came out the Friday before the race.

Steve Johnson took me to dinner at the Hopleaf and recorded our 2 hour interview. The pay off was a tasty dinner and the cover of the Chicago Tribune.

Jenna Marotta interviewed me and I got a little write up on an online Chicago Mag blog.

My girlfriend came into town on Thursday and my cousin Jenny and Aunt Karen came on Friday (they stayed with friends close by). My mom, Aunt Diane, Aunt Beth (no relation), brother Kevin and his girlfriend Megan came on Saturday. I met with Janelle (cousin in-law) at the airport on Saturday and we headed off to McCormack Place to get our packets for the race. 15115 was my bib number.

All week I was changing my sleeping patterns so I would be ready to wake up at 5am on Sunday. I was as ready as i'd ever be. I woke u on my own at about 3:45am and stayed up. With only 6, or so, hours of sleep I got up and started getting ready. My back felt ok, but I was skeptical. None of it matters at this point. Its happening one way or another.

Janelle stayed with Deb and I. After some fruit for me, a bagel for Janelle, and I'm not sure what Deb ate, we were off. A 15ish minute walk to the redline. Where, with every stop, the cars got more and more crowded with people wearing bib numbers and eating bananas. We got out at Jackson along with the majority, and looked for a place to meet up with everyone else that seemed to be scattered amongst the city.

I stretched out on the grass with thousands of others, also stretching or waiting on line for a porta potty or already set at their assigned corrals. The sun was peaking its head above above the trees which meant it was about time for my blindfold. It's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 7am now.

I get a round of hugs and good lucks from my support team and Janelle and Jenny and I head for the start. On the way into the open corral CBS news stops me and asks some questions. I talk quickly about my brother, nephew and I losing our sight to Choroideremia. And reason why I have to run with the blindfold and have Janelle and Jenny run with me. I dont know if any of it ever made it anywhere.

I had a laminated sign pinned to my back with my disease on it and a warning to other runners that I am indeed blind. I was going to hold onto Janelles forearm while Jenny would politely ask runners ahead of us to move over because I'm blind and coming up behind them. It all seemed to work out pretty well.

The roads were awful. All the different textures made it especially difficult. Around mile 3 I needed a pee break and it just so happened we were passing a gas station. Perfect! No line for the bathroom and it was alot cleaner than a porta john. That would be my first and last bathroom break for the next 5 + hours.

It was certainly nice to hear people on the side lines or even fellow runners telling e they read about me in the paper or saw me on the news and best of luck and all sorts of kind things. Sometimes I even had people I knew yelling encouraging things from the sides. My girlfriend and family even caught up with me a couple times.

I beat my previous half mile time (even with a bathroom break) by about 1 minute. Not bad. But that was only 13.1 miles into it. We still had another 3 hours to go.

After the 20 mile mark I felt ok I guess. My back was holding up quite nicely and so were my nipple guards, also a concern. Chaffed nipples can be awfully painful and make a long day much longer. It was getting hotter. It probably around noon by now and I still had another 6.2 miles to go. I have never run more than 20 miles in my training and I had always heard the 20 mile mark was the toughest part mentally and physically.

It was around mile 22, i think, where I started wanting to cry. Not because I was in so much pain, because I wasn't really. It was 5 hours of being blindfolded and thinking about what that means and what I'm doing and why. My body was getting tired and fighting tears was hard. I was blindfolded so I don't think anyone noticed but I almost shut down completely verbally. Only talking in whispers... "water", "keep going", "thank you". I fought off tears and just total breakdown for the next 2 or 3 miles.

A couple times my cousin asked if I wanted to stop at the water stations and I didn't even talk I just threw my hand forward to keep going. I was holding my cane folded up the whole time. I did that for the other half marathons I ran too. It works for whatever reason, I like holding it as I run.

I was taking walking breaks pretty much every mile, but that last one. That last one I wanted to run the whole thing. I had heard the last mile goes uphill a bit and what I heard was true. We were going uphill for what seemed like most of it. After I hit 26 miles I tried to increase my speed. Not to show off, but to end it. It was now over 5 1/2 hours of running blindfolded and I had had enough.

My time was 5:37:23. I was hoping to be done by 5:30, but no big deal. It was a hot day and I did my best.

I took my blindfold off but couldn't open my eyes because of how bright it was, even with the sunglasses. I had to keep them closed for a long while. I almost cried when my crying girlfriend hugged me and then my crying mother. It was pretty wild. I was spent and ready to go home. I said my thanks and good byes with my eyes closed and Deb and I took me home. Took a while, but it was nice be back. My legs were sore and behind my left knee felt real bad and tight. Walking up and down stairs was anything but easy. Its finally feeling more second nature now.

I said I'd never run another, but you never know.

Thanks to everyone that supported me and continues to. I greatly appreciate it.

please donate to my $100,000 goal. I'm at around $45,000 of that goal. Thanks so much!!

Much love,

EJ Scott

05K	08:28:25AM	00:34:50	34:50	11:13	5.35
10K	09:08:18AM	01:14:43	39:53	12:51	4.67
15K	09:42:08AM	01:48:33	33:50	10:54	5.51
20K	10:20:24AM	02:26:49	38:16	12:20	4.87
HALF	10:27:46AM	02:34:11	07:22	10:48	5.56
25K	11:01:35AM	03:08:00	33:49	13:57	4.30
30K	11:43:28AM	03:49:53	41:53	13:29	4.45
35K	12:28:25AM	04:34:50	44:57	14:28	4.15
40K	01:13:31PM	05:19:56	45:06	14:31	4.13
Finish	01:30:58PM	05:37:23	17:27	12:48	4.69

place (M/W)	17291
place (ag)	2939
place (total)	29530
time total (netto)	05:37:23