How do you fight cancer? If you’re a research scientist, you have a big laboratory, microscopes, samples and data, lots of data — lots and lots of data. If you’re a doctor, then you’re dealing with patients and the caregivers and you’re helping them get on with life and finding the best way to care and deal with this nasty disease. If you’re the patient…well, everyone deals with it in their own way, but hopefully they fight, and fight hard!

And then there’s Eric. Eric had a friend who had the same disease as me, Multiple Myeloma - a blood cancer in the same family as lymphoma and leukemia. When I got diagnosed I had so many people that felt like they needed to do something and would ask, “what can I do?” I’m trying to figure out what I should do, how can I tell them what to do? Eric decided to fight the only way he knew how — run…and then run some more. What started as a marathon, then became a triathlon and finally he just threw out the script!

Eric helped his friend in the only way he knew how — he pushed himself, to the extreme, to try and raise money to fight the cancer his friend was fighting. I had the pleasure of meeting Eric in Central Park, the first time he “ran” Central Park for 48 hours — STRAIGHT! He started on Friday at 8:30 and finished Sunday. I couldn’t believe someone could do this. I ran one loop — Eric had been running for 17 hours when I joined him — and hadn’t peed in the last 7 hours. A sure sign of dehydration — luckily rectified shortly after joining him. Running a distance, say 26.2 miles, can wreak havoc on your body. Eric is now an Ultra Marathoner and the damage it can do to his body is also extreme.

To fight this damage he trains. He trains like a locomotive (get it? He trains like a train.) So forget the actual race, the training for the race is probably worse! Eric doesn’t have cancer. Eric’s mom doesn’t have cancer. Eric’s friend had cancer. Unfortunately, I have to use the past tense there as Eric’s friend passed on a few years ago. But Eric hasn’t stopped, in fact Eric has just done more, and more, and more. And he does this for more people. I’m lucky enough to be Eric’s left hip in this case. The picture here is a negative image from his Badwater run a few years back. On his left hip is my name and yes, Eric runs for me — and the other 100+ people on his shirt.

This is a logo that would be envious of any designer…the picture formed is easily identifiable and the message being portrayed is simple and strong. The logo tells everything and serves a great purpose beyond that: linking his efforts to real people. Every single one is fighting or has fought cancer and Eric does his best to recognize these people — he feels these people are fighting much more than he does. In fact, with the aid of a Sharpie marker, he recognizes these people during his races. I can’t say he has the best penmanship but the point works. He personalizes his challenge and this means alot to these patients, including me. During the last Central Park race he had a lady from St. Louis stop him just North of 60th street.

She had scheduled her trip to New York City so that she could meet Eric. This is why Eric does what he does. Here is someone fighting cancer…and scheduling her vacation so she can go meet him! This is why he takes such a personal touch with his races. Every few laps, he has a new dedication for the race. Here are a few examples from his Facebook page.

Every patient is a motivation for Eric. Every patient is 10 more pushups, 20 more burpees, 30 mountain climbers, 40 leg lifts, 50 slap pushups — if these numbers seem absurd, realize he was ending his prep for this next race with this:

Today’s workout:
100 flights on stairs
5 sets
10 clap push-ups
20 sit-ups w 15lb ball
1hr heat training in sauna
Peace and Have A Great Night! E
PS Badwater 11 days to go

Which brings us to Badwater. “ ’The World’s Toughest Foot Race’ — Covering 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA, the Nutrimatix Badwater® 135 is the most demanding and extreme running race offered” Eric runs this race on Tuesday, for me, and the 100+ people on his shirt. Now Eric has run this race before (the pictures above) but I didn’t know him then but I do now. What I’ve seen him do to prep for this race is daunting, it’s like he’s fighting cancer with his fists. Badwater starts in Death Valley and ends on Mount Whitney, crossing three mountain ranges for a cumulative ascent of 14,600 feet and a cumulative 6,100 feet of downhill run. Starting in Death Valley, 280 feet below sea level with average temperatures between 120 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and ending on Mount Whitney, 8,300 feet above sea level (I had to repeat myself!) Here’s a map showing this masterpiece of self destruction!

But it gets worse. The above is an old world, flat map…you need the third dimension to make it real…so take a look at this:

…gives new meaning to WTF?!?

Which brings me to the purpose of this post. I know Eric will finish (estimated time, 36 hours) but he’ll need motivation, that’s where you come in. That’s where you can fight cancer by supporting Eric.

At the last Central Park run, Eric tried to suprise me by putting my name on his shirt, “This one’s for Bill”. On the next lap, I wrote, “This one’s for Eric” on my shirt and surprised him. I know that meant a lot to him, helped push him for that last lap.

I’d like you to do the same.

You need a shirt and a Sharpie and someone to take a picture (unless you’re double jointed and can do a backwards selfie!) Put “this one is for Eric” and then put “this one is for <insert your name>” below. Post it to his Facebook page or add it to a comment to this post. Eric is running 135 miles — my goal is to get 135 shirts saying “this one is for Eric” And if you want to make a donation to The MMRF, you can do that here.