Let me start by describing the TSA and what they are all about. TSA stands for Tourette Syndrome Association. They are a national non profit organization that exists for the purpose of raising awareness and research funds to benefit the effforts to discover the cause and find a cure for Tourette Syndrome. As somebody who has had Tourettes for 28 years now (not bad for a 26 year old, huh?), I am absolutely thrilled to be doing this fund raising event for them.
Driving a go kart for 24 hours straight (yes I will get to stop to pee if I need to) will require near superhuman strength and endurance. For those of you who have driven those speedy little go karts around at the local put-put mini golf center, well this is nothing like that. Driving a racing go kart is very physically and mentally taxing. It's about like trying to do calculus...on a stairmaster...in a sauna....holding a 50 pound weight above your head, and if you screw up somebody smacks you on the head with a block of concrete and takes a few thousand dollars out of your wallet to fix the stairmaster, erm, kart you just broke. But boy oh boy is it fun! 24 hours of this "fun" however, will take quite a physical effort, so that is why I have enlisted the help fo a personal trainer. Thanks to my local Gold's Gym, I have been training since November with their very own Tim Park, and I can already feel the difference. He's got me feeling better than ever and ready to train for another 9 months so that my arms don't fall off after the first 5 minutes of my world record attempt.
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| Yours truly grabbing the holeshot at the Halloween Grand Prix in Norway, IL - October 30, 2010 |
Hopefully I will have some more exciting announcements soon, so check back from time to time for updates. Until then, I want to give a special thanks to all my sponsors for helping me make this happen. Thanks to AiM Sports, Ribtect, Ogden USA, Hoosier Tires, Summit Point Kart, Zamp Helmets, and of course Rich Long and Tim Park at Gold's Gym in Silver Spring, MD. I'd also like to give a special thanks to Will Harrell for putting together the spectacular http://www.kart24hour.org/ website using his nifty iWeb program on his macbook. Feel free to harass him and tell him what an awesome job he has done. You can reach him at wharrell24@yahoo..... ah I'm not gonna do that to him (no wharrell24@yahoo.com is not his actual email address). But seriously though, everybody I've just mentioned has played a huge part in helping me get this project off the ground and I really look forward to working with all of them throughout the course of 2011 leading up to and including the 24 Hours for TSA event.
Hope you all enjoy this meaningless rambling as much as I enjoy writing it and I'll see you next time!