Dear Friends:

I hope this note finds you well and that you’ve been enjoying the new year. On February 17, in addition to celebrating a big birthday milestone with a family member, I will start the day by running 13.1 miles along with my much faster friend Kellie in the inaugural National Half Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer in Jacksonville, FL.

This is my third half marathon and I've set an aggressive personal goal of improving my half marathon time by more than 30 minutes! Since October I've been following the Galloway training program, which has provided me with the coaching, guidance and inspiration to help me prepare for this event, so this goal should be challenging but attainable.

For me, this event represents a celebration of strength, life and good health. Many of us take our quality of life and good health for granted. At this stage of my life, experience has shown me that I can no longer afford to do that. So this is my number one most important resolution for this year: to be the strongest, healthiest and most happily productive person I can be in 2008. In that spirit, I'm dedicating this run to benefit breast cancer research. I hope you'll join me by making a donation to benefit the Mayo Clinic and women living with breast Cancer.

Your support can help save the lives of those affected by this disease. All contributions are tax deductible. You can donate online or by check (please email me for more info at cvbell@gmail.com). Also, some of you work for matching gift organizations. If so, please fill out your company's form and send it to me at 919-338-1846 (or you can scan it and e-mail it to me) so that your donation can go even farther for this great cause. I really appreciate any support you are able to give!

Thanks and very best wishes,

Carole