Growing Tentacles

Hello world. Hmmmm, my typing skills are even more pathetic at this hour! Didn’t think that was even possible. Anyway, I wanted to tell you about a connection I made the other day and the very cool way that I will be able to leverage that meeting into doing something awesome on many levels.

Many of you know that soccer was my chocolate before I turned to multisport racing and training. I was an extremely high spirited and eager goalkeeper who loved the game and had hopes of playing professionally. Which is a gross understatement but that’s not what I’m talking about today. One of the goalkeepers that I looked up to at the time was a guy named Shep Messing. (NY Cosmos fame – Google him). In recent years our orbits have aligned somewhat and we have become friendly. SO….. the other day, I received the following email from Shep:

big man!

First of all, I never got to thank you for sending me the blog you wrote referencing our connection….well done for everything you continue to do. A fellow goalkeeper is now facing a challenge. He’s one of the top quality human beings I’ve met….went to one of my camps when he was 10, was a keeper in college and then played professionally in Zimbabwe before his life took an unusual turn….and I’ve been there for him and for his charitable causes over the last few years. If you have the time, I know he’d appreciate hearing from a fellow keeper, especially you…his name is Ethan Zohn.

thanks pal,

Shep

So, of course I reach out to the guy right away. Ethan was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease and we started the first of many conversations on the topics of treatments, nutrition, fitness, soccer, positive thinking, etc. I also learned that Ethan runs an organization called Grass Root Soccer which provides funding for AIDS/HIV education for children of Africa. His organization is also putting a fund raising team together to race the New York City Marathon and raise funds and awareness for his cause. It was a no brainer decision when Ethan invited me to join his mission. I couldn’t say NO to something like that. And the timing works out well. The race will be held on 11/1 and that date sits comfortably in between an ultra distance triathlon and the Philadelphia Marathon on my race calendar.

So on November 1, Ethan and I and our team will race the NYC Marathon for all the right reasons. In the meantime, we need to make sure we get Ethan healthy and kick the hell out of his Hodgkin’s Disease – which I know he will do. One must admire a guy like Ethan who, while trying to wrap his head and hands around his own very recent diagnosis, remains busy with his charitable causes and missions.

You will be hearing much more on this effort, but I was pretty stoked about it and wanted to share. You can learn more about Ethan at www.ezohn.com If the name sounds familiar, Ethan was also the winner of SURVIVOR – Africa. He has many irons in his fire as well. I think that’s why we hit it off.