to do

What I decided is to do a 50-mile ultra to raise money and awareness for Leonard Peltier. The ultra has been on my mind for a long time, Leonard Peltier even longer. It made sense to combine the two.

The idea first crossed my mind when I watched a documentary on the Kona Ironman in Hawaii, where a participant raised money for autism. I had known of course that many people run, officially or not, for a cause - knowing that simply comes with running. Marathons push you beyond your limits, so they lend themselves easily to this kind of thing. Ironmans even more so.

I didn't know how the specifics worked, but a bit of research would help. Find an online fundraising platform, set up a profile, sign up for an ultra (November?), train (put in two marathons or so as training runs). That was the plan, in broad strokes.

I already knew what people would ask me: are you on Facebook? No. Yeah, I know, we are not talking 'socially enabled' here.

The most stringent problem: I didn't know how I would do it all, everything on my ridiculous schedule. But once I made up my mind, I became incongruously happy. That, I have been told, is what counts.