TEAM FOX – OFFICIAL BLOG

Team Fox member and mentor, Gene Gurkoff will run in his 5th ING NYC Marathon on Sunday as a part of Team Fox. This year, Gene decided to take his fundraising letter in a different direction and we were wowed by what he wrote. This is Gene’s 5th NYC Marathon but it will be a unique experience for him. Read his awesome letter below to find out why. We’re honored to have Gene on our team, good luck on Sunday!

Dear friends,

There are certain events that happen each year—holidays, birthdays, anniversaries—where we look back and think, “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been a whole year…” 

For me, one of those events is the New York City Marathon.  This will be my fifth (and fourth consecutive) year running this marathon.  And while each NYC marathon covers the same 26.2 miles, each one is very different… Because each year I’m different.

In my first marathon it was all about the adventure… and just finishing.  Then there were a couple times that I tried to run fast.  And last year, just a few weeks after finishing Kona, my friend Joe and I came together with 40,000 others, just to be part of something positive as the city was painfully unraveling.   So, as the marathon is next Sunday, I find myself reflecting on where (or who) I was last year, and how this marathon is different.

Actually, I planned on making this marathon different.  On January 10^th, I signed up to run this marathon as a guide for the Achilles Track Club—a not-for-profit organization that helps people with disabilities participate in road races.  I wanted to do a mitzvah by guiding a blind runner or a wheelchair athlete.

Then, just four days later, I was hit by a car while cycling upstate.  As I lay in a snowbank—over thirty feet from the spot of the collision—I couldn’t feel my legs or feet.  All I could feel was a severe pain radiating from my upper back.  And all I could think was that I should have filled out the “other” Achilles registration form. 

I was about a centimeter lucky.  I had three fractured vertebrae but I’m running this marathon on my own two feet.  And I’m especially honored to be running with Mario Vazquez, a wheelchair athlete from Peru.  Even though I originally signed up to guide someone like Mario, I have a feeling that he’ll be guiding me too.

So, this marathon will be a new experience for me.  But, then again, some things don’t change.  For, of course, I am also running for Team Fox.  Since I became the first Team Fox member in 2005, Team Fox has grown to over 800 members.  About 220 of these members will run the marathon next week.  And, as I am a Team Fox Mentor to many of them, I am truly inspired by their stories.

One of these Team Fox members is my friend and colleague, Phil Sosnow.  Luckily, Phil doesn’t have any known “connection” to Parkinson’s.  But when our department bet him that he couldn’t eat forty Twizzlers in ten minutes, he looked at me and accepted the challenge if the proceeds would go to Team Fox.

Phil won the bet, and I rewarded him with another challenge—that he sign up to run the marathon for Team Fox.  At the time, Phil had never done much running.  And nobody in our department believed he could actually run the marathon.  But, over thirty pounds lighter, Phil just ran 21 miles and he’s ready to go.  I’m incredibly proud of Phil.  Look out for him in the Team Fox jersey next Sunday!

If you’d like to support either the Achilles Track Club or Phil’s Team Fox efforts, I’ve provided their respective links below.  However, this year I’m not formally soliciting donations  You’ve all been tremendously supportive in the past and I know this has been a difficult year.

Rather, I am soliciting Team Fox memberships.  Team Fox is truly a wonderful community.  We’re not just marathoners and triathletes.  We’re also golfers, artists, pancake flippers, party planners, jewelry designers, mountain climbers, poets, authors, gardeners, twizzler-eaters and more—people who have applied their passion (or learned a new one) for a good cause.  In just four short years we’ve raised over $5 million for Parkinson’s research.  And this research also benefits people suffering from several other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease, Dystonia and even Autism. 

This is why I’m proud to be a member of Team Fox.  And this is why I’m hoping that some of you will join us.  Perhaps you have a friend or family member with Parkinson’s or another neurological disorder.  Perhaps you want to try running a 10k, designing jewelry or planning a party for a good cause.  Perhaps you’d like to be part of a team is changing the way all non-profits approach their missions.  Or perhaps you really like Back To The Future and Family Ties.  Either way, we’d love to have you join us.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’re interested.

All the best,
Geno

Phil’s Team Fox Page
The Achilles Track Club