I have to be honest. I am thinking of dropping out of the AIDS Marathon portion of the race and signing up on my own to do the Chicago Half Marathon.
I barely have a quarter of the $1,500 I need to raise as of today. I know there are still 5 weeks to go until the July 15th deadline, but I really can't fathom how I will raise an additional $1,100 by then. I've asked everyone I know that I am able to and I have had some very generous responses. However, I haven't received the number of responses I was counting on.
I'm rationalizing by imagining that I am in a unique situation:
1) I'm young and my peers don't have much expendable income, and perhaps more importantly..
2) I work in nonprofit development.
My coworkers make the same sort of lousy wages that I do (as nonprofit work goes). And to top it off, it is my job to fundraise on behalf of my organization. It would be tacky and unprofessional of me to approach any of my business contacts for a personal donation knowing that those funds could have possibly been rerouted to the organization.
I'm trying to sell a few things on ebay and etsy, but that won't lead to any major money. Other fundraising efforts that I can think of would only net me a few hundred dollars at the very most. Personally, I am completely unable to take on any more of a financial burden than I am already dealing with, so making up any significant difference myself is out of the question.
I would be very sad to stop training with the AIDS Marathon group. While I do know how to train now, I find it daunting to think about doing so completely on my own. It's also daunting to think about running the actual marathon alone, without my pace group and other new AIDS Marathon friends. But at the end of the day, I don't really think I have too many options.
To make matters worse, my left hip and shin have been hurting since my 5 mile run last Saturday and as a result I have been resisting the urge to train, knowing it will just get worse. I was hoping the pain would be gone by now, but it doesn't look like it will disappearing as rapidly as I had hoped. The risk of not even being able to run the marathon makes it all the more difficult to consider my fundraising predicament.
If I were to drop out I would be very embarrassed, especially in light of those who have so generously donated. While it certainly isn't a negative thing to have raised $400 for people living with HIV and AIDS, it is impossibly to deny that those donations were of a personal nature and that I am in some way letting donors down.
Additionally, if I do drop out, do I keep training until July 15th and run the risk of having more friends and family donate knowing that I may not run with the AIDS Marathon and run the risk of the Chicago Half Marathon filling up, or do I cut my losses and make the decision soon?
If anyone is actually reading this blog, and especially if you have been in a similar situation, I would be eager to hear your advice. I'm not feeling too optimisitic at the moment.
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