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Thanks for your patience!!!  Now.... the saga continues......
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I knew that if I was going to get $1000 sponsorship per mile, I was going to have to tell as many people as I could about my endevour.  I had to get the word out and I started by calling my closest relatives and oldest friends as well as sending out an email to all of my local friends.  I considered climbing to the top of the Prudential Building and yelling it..... but thought that my efforts would be better placed elsewhere

When I did discuss pledges, I made it a very soft sell.  I didn't pressure anyone into sponserong me.  I personally felt that if someone wanted to sponsor me, they would if I asked once.  I didn't want to make anyone feel obligated to do this and this technique seemed to work well.  I also tried to use humor, as I tend to do, by letting potential sponsors know that this was a per mile pledge..... yes... per mile!  At this point, I was able to run four miles!   Within the first week I had received about $75 per mile in sponsorships.

I felt it was a nice start, however, $75 per week was not going to get me to me to my goal.

It was at about this point that I received a phone call from a friend and temple member, Joanne.  Joanne was a big supporter of mine and her belief in me helped to solidify my belief in myself.  She informed me that she had put a committee together to help me get to the $1000 mark.  She said that if I believed we could get to that objective, then she too believed we could get there..... and she wanted to help.

It was a small comittee of three or four members.  We got together and had a brainstorming session to figure out ways to reach our goal.  The session was a huge success, generating some ideas that really helped to get the ball rolling downhill. 

We decided to get a pledge form out in our monthly bulletin which was mailed to every temple member as well as other friends of the community.  I checked the synagogue mailbox every few days and there was a constant stream of these pledge forms being received.

We also decided to create a poster with a 'thermometer' to place in the Synagogue lobby.  I put this together and each time that I stopped by to check the mail, I mark a new level on the chart.  This was a great way to let our community know about how we were doing..... and the thermometer continued to move!

The biggest thing, however, to come out of this meeting was the realization that we needed some type of slogan or phrase to put on the top of the poster, on shirts and anywhere else that would help members remember this endeavor.  After much discussion, Marathon Martin was born.

I liked the phrase, however, I wasn't a big fan of putting ME in the spot light.  I was doing this for our community and our building and really wanted THAT to be the focus.  I maintained this attitude through the entire fundraising process, although, others did not.

Soon, shirts were printed with Marathon Martin, a website was put together with Marathon Martin, kids were coming up to me at services asking, "Are you Marathon Martin!?"  I wasn't really prepared for the 'celebrity' that started, although, it did help get pledges.

During all of this, I continued my training. 

By the end of week one, I had run the furthest I had ever run without stopping, five miles.  Unfortunately, during this run, one of my knees started to ache and I decided it was time to let my doctor know what I was planning on doing.

Stay tuned for What Was I Thinking (Part seven): Doctor, Doctor... Give Me The News

What Was I Thinking (Part one): In the Beginning 
What Was I Thinking (Part two): Goodbye Reality
What Was I Thinking (Part three): The Point of No Return
What Was I Thinking (Part four): Super Dave
What Was I Thinking (Part five): My Follow Through