New Angels & Assistance Requested to update Angels Honor Roll Memorial

New Angels: So much time has passed since I last updated our Angels list that it is almost overwhelming to know that I have so many Little Angels to add. Yet, there is a comfort in knowing that they no longer have to endure the paining and suffering that comes with fighting neuroblastoma, childhood cancer.

Today I know the heavenly hosts welcome Juan Santiago Wall and Erik Ludwinski to the angelic choir. May they forever sing songs of joy that only our creator can hear and we in our hearts wait patiently for a blessed reunion sure to occur.

Assistance Requested to update Angels Honor Roll Memorial: Over the next week or so I will attempt to recover many of my emails over the months past and update our Angels Honor Roll memorial accordingly. However, I fear that many of the notices may be unrecoverable. So I ask for your assistance - would you please send me the names of our angels that I have missed or over looked.

"Love can make you do things that you never thought possible"
Phil Collins

God Bless Gj

Circle the Lake for the Cure -

Please click title ^above^ to go to the new blog site for Circle the Lake for the Cure

The war is not Over! Many Little Buddies and their families still fight bravely on to beat the foe neuroblastoma. And sadly others have become angels …Therefore

While I have been absent for far too long I am BACK! And planning and preparations for this year’s big running event is under way.

The run will be called:

“Circle the Lake for the Cure - Fight Childhood Cancer:
A Memorial to All Warriors Big & Small”

Date: September 7 & 8, 2010 (tentative)
Location: Houghton Lake MI.
Length of Event: 36 hours. – How far will ol’ Gj go in 36 hours is anybody’s guess, but I bet it will be farther than a mile…. :)

Over the course of 36 hours I intend to run walk or crawl around Houghton Lake MI and cover as many miles as I possibly can. One lap of the lake is approximately 32 miles – can I make 3 or more laps in that time frame? Who knows? Regardless of distance traveled I will be doing all I can to raise awareness of Childhood cancer neuroblastoma, the entire distance. ….I am figuring on some crazy stunt , but not sure what just yet… and hopefully let’s see if I can do better in the fund raising department this year as opposed to last year.

As most of you know my son made it safely home from Iraq last Sept. However, such is not the case for his group or wind commander 1st Lt. Joseph Helton, USAF. On September 8, 2009 he was KIA while defending and protecting us from those wishing to do harm to the innocents. That is the run is a tribute to the Big warriors too. The big warriors are all of those defending and protect us where ever they may be serving. It is to their honor and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice a memorial – Thank a vet if you cherish your freedom. ..

Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.
Thomas Carlyle


Till later, God Bless

Grandpa John

Dedication The Big Race - Sept 26, 2009

Dedication: My Family, I am overjoyed to let you know that my son made it safely back stateside from his year's tour of duty in Iraq. Yet, I am very sadden too. Approximately 4 days after he arrived at his duty station my son was informed that his former Wing Commander in Iraq, became an Angel on 8 September, 2009. And like my Warrior Buddies, a true hero indeed.

This weekend I am running my first 50 mile race and in addition to dedicating this race to all of my Little Warriors and Buddies, I am making a special dedication to honor the memory of 1st LT Joseph Helton, USAF. And for my son and for all who serve in the USAF Security Forces, I will carry you and your comrades with me in spirit to honor the memory of all fallen Security Force warriors. All of you have my unending gratitude - God Bless you.

I will provide a more comprehensive update after the race this weekend. Until then I again reitterate my promise to you, my Little Buddies and Families:

"I promise that I shall not stop running till the cure is found. If I should become too old or weak to run, it is then I will ask our Heavenly Father to carry me to the finish line - The Cure Gj

Till later God Bless.

Grandpa John.

PS: Carson Clark: I just have to let you know that you are my hero Little Buddy and this race is especially for you too.

I AM BACK; NEXT RACE; THE BIG RUN NEXT YEAR

I’m Back: Wow! It’s been far too long since I provided an update. Truth be told, since the long run I have been somewhat lazy, but now is the time be reenergize and continue of fighting the good fight and running for my Little buddies. Over the course of the next couple of weeks or so I’ll be getting our Angel's Honor Roll- A Forever Dedication updated and updating oterh areas of the Blog as necessary.

NEXT RACE/DEDICATION: What is new on the near horizon? Well I am glad that you asked that question, I am going to be a hippie (again or is it for the first time since I was in the army during that period) that is I am “Running Woodstock;” no not in New York, but right here in Michigan. It will be a far out weekend just choke full of running and wild times (not too wild for ol Gj) and may be just a flash back to the younger days. The race I will run is a 50 miler. Yep, you read rightly. I am going to do the Peace Love 50 Miler, my first. Now mind you there is a 15 hour time limit for this run and should make it. I know 15 hours seems like an awfully long time and the trail is the very difficult 12.5-mile loop of the Potawatomi trail in the Pinckney MI recreation area. But I just ain’t gonna quit till I get the 50 in for my Little Buddies. They will help me thru the difficult areas and times - I will be carrying all of the pictures I had with me on our journey run the entire distance.

Dedication: I dedicate this race to all of my Little Buddies, especially Noah Scott Biorkman who is having a pretty rough go at it right now, and his family and to the memory of all of our Angels. I know I’ll never hit a major league home run Noah, but I do promise you that I will finish this50 Miler for you. My prayers are with all of you.

THE BIG RUN NEXT YEAR – In planning stages...will it be “From the Border to the Bridge Part II???” Who knows? Stay Tuned.

Special Note of Love: Even though most of us have never met and probably never will have the opportunity to do so, I just can’t put into words just how much I love every one of you – I promise I won’t stop running till the cure is found.

Grandpa John

“It is not wise to win a battle for the sake of glory just to lose the war. We will complete the race before us and will not stop till the cure is found” Grandpa John

The 330 Mile Run Report - Fighting Neuroblastoma - Childhood Cancer

Please follow this link to our other blog to read the report on the run to the Mackinaw Bridge:

http://www.fightingchildhoodcancer.blogspot.com/


God Bless you till Later,

Grandpa John

PS: If you'd like to see the pictures please send me an email and I will send you the link to my MySpace account wherein the pictures reside - Thanks, Gj

Newest Sponsor; Countdown to the Run - T minus....

Newest Sponsor - Folks if you're ever in the Mount Pleasant , MI area, please stop by our newest sponsors hotel, "The Comfort Inn & Suites University Park" Just click on the picture of the Bridge above and follow the links on the other blog site for the run. And please be sure to tell them that Grandpa John sent you :)

Countdown to the Run: T Minus 010:14:10 and counting....

Till later I am off and getting ready for the run...see you soon..

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Morrie Schwartz

God Bless

Gj

Letter from Governor of Michigan-Well Wishes; Count Down & New shirt; New Sponsor; Say Who Is This fellow?

Letter from Governor of Michigan-Well Wishes: I’ve been writing so many letters to so many people to be honest, I cannot for the life of me remember if I wrote to our governor explaining the who, what, and why of the upcoming 330 mile run. Yet, somehow, I received a letter from her expressing her well wishes for the upcoming run and an Irish blessing J I am forever grateful for that letter as I now know that one more person is aware of neuroblastoma and its horrors; thank you Governor Granholm your letter and blessings means very much to me. Here is a picture of it:

Count Down: All Systems are Go! As of 11:30am Sunday, May 3, 2009 we are in countdown mode. We are at T minus 11 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes and 0 seconds until Friday, May 15, 2009 at 8:00:00 AM (Detroit time) See our count down timer above

New Shirt – Here is a picture of one of the shirts I be wearing while I run the “From the Border to the Bridge” run.

Front:

Back:

As you can see I did not distinguish between our Warriors and Angels. If anyone asks who is who I’d be able to tell them, but that is not the point I am trying to make. “Anyone’s child could be stricken with this horrible disease - do you know which one?” That is the same for our Poster board pictures….which one??? Our Warrior and Angels look very health…but looks are deceiving, aren’t they? Hopefully, those meet during the run feel the impact of what is not being said.

New Sponsor: (See "From the Border to the Bridge Blog"- click on picture of bridge above) My thanks and appreciation goes out to Quality Inn of Gaylord Michigan for providing me and my support crew (Missus Gj and Babee) one of our nights lodging. So folks if you’re ever traveling through the Gaylord MI. area please plan on spending the night at one of our most wonderful sponsors. If you cannot stay then please stop to let them know you heard about them from Ol’ Gj.

Last Two Weeks – Action packed; that is all I can say! First we continued finding lodging for our nightly slumber and then last weekend Missus GJ, Babee and myself traveled the last 130 miles (or so) of the route.

Early last Saturday morning we left for Clare Mi.; the city where we stopped our route verification the previous weekend. Traveling northward we drove through Harrison, and verified one of our sponsors addresses (meaning - could we find it) and there approximately 200 yards off our route stood Lakeside Motel and Cottages...how beautiful, right on Budd Lake. Missus Gj and I will most definitely plan a few days vacation here later in the summer.

Out of Harrison we continued north going through Higgins Lake, and onward to Grayling MI. About 12 miles or south of Grayling we got lost, or should I say the map was mismarked giving directions without actually names the roads we should take. What is really surprising is that we actually found our way to Grayling just by following the road we were on till it dead-ended and turned right ….

Leaving Grayling we made our way to Gaylord without much ado. As we traveled north of Gaylord we passed a little park we stopped and took a few pictures (see previous posting.) Pressing on we made our way to Indian River (our final night before Mackinaw City). We didn’t spend any time there as it was starting to get late and we needed to make our destination at a reasonable hour. Finally we arrived in Mackinaw City - the finishing point of this year’s run for of love (all of my runs of love J ones (Again the picture are in the previous post.)

No one will have to tell me to go and jump in to the lake. I will jump into the lake when I arrive – I will do so willing as a refreshing break from the many miles….I just hope Missus Gj get pictures of the shocked look I’ll have on my face…that water is very, very cold.

Say Who is this fellow?

I’ll give you 3 guesses, and the first two don’t count…I was rummaging through some old pictures and found one of me from my late of coming hippie days (Actually, I was in the Army during the 60’s/70’s hippie movement.) This picture was taken at Jacob’s Ladder Folk Music Festival in Kiryat Shmona, Israel circa 1991 – I was a late bloomer for sure and loved every minute of it

God Bless, Till Later,

Gj

Whew! Completed Dry Run of the 330 mile Run.

Whew! Today was a long day for ol' Gj and the Missus, so I'll make this short. We began at 8am and headed north to completed the last third of the dry run for the 330 mile run. The further north we traveled, the more hilly the terrain became; a runners dream (or is that nightmare?) What really surprised us was the maps provided by Google dot com maps - for the most part were right on, and within a tenth or so of the mileage indicated. We did however get lost twice, and each time it was because the directions were very vague, reading something like turn right and head towards such and such road, but no mention was made of the name of the road we were to turn right or left on. So we worked ahead and worked our way backwards to where we were and it worked. (Not to mention the help of several locals along the way)

Missus Gj is napping, Babee is sleeping right next to her..Ahh life is good I am blessed...all systems are go!

Here are a few pictures of todays journey:

Park Just North of Gaylord

Portion of the Route

Bridge in the Distance















The Fort Entrance


Our Destination- The Bridge! May 25th, 2009

Find the person who will love you because of your differences and not in spite of them and you have found a lover for life.

Leo Buscaglia

God Bless each of you now and always and in all ways.

Gj

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OF MY LITTLE BUDDIES & FAMILIES; THE BIG RUN-A GOOD START ON THE AWARENESS POSTER

Happy Easter - I know this is almost late...I'd like to wish all of my Little Buddies and their families the bestest and mostest Happy Easter ever and that the Easter bunny left loads of chocolate and candy eggs and all sorts of good stuff. Remember, all of you are in my daily prayers -
"Happy Easter" Little Buddies."

THE BIG RUN-A GOOD START ON THE AWARENESS POSTER: Time surely has away of creeping up on us. In just a few more weeks Missus Gj and I will be off and running our 330 mile adventure raising awareness of neuroblastoma and childhood cancer by promoting bicycle & pedestrian safety and driver alertness all the way. I am getting so excited :) Well, this weekend we got a great start on our awareness poster. Just a few more information cards to print and mount and to print all of the pictures that were sent to me (boy oh boy, you guys and gals are really handsome and pretty :) ..it will be awesome...we'll tell everyone we meet that we're not quiting till the cure is found and they can help with a small donation.!!! Oh, before,I forget here's a picture of our poster board

Till later as now I am off printing the picrures you sent me; all of you have blest me so much -thank you

“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.” (Author unknown to me)

God Bless,

Gj