• by Joe Marchese , August 10, 2010

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I almost never run for exercise. So running 26.2 miles certainly wasn't on my to-do list this month. But then I got an email from social connector, social do-gooder and good friend, Toby Daniels. Toby was reaching out to a group of social media "influencers" (I know what you're thinking, and I'm also not sure how I made the list) to run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 7 in order to raise money for Camp Interactive, a "not-for-profit organization that empowers inner-city youth through the inspiration of the outdoors and the creative power of technology," according to its Web site. So later that day, after convincing myself I wasn't going to die, I told Toby to sign me up.

What's interesting to me about this whole process is how intertwined social media is in getting me to not only take this on, but to commit myself to training and to enable all the runners raising money for Camp Interactive using social media tools. The group of us running for Camp Interactive all have pages on a great social media fundraising site called Crowdrise. In addition, we will all be using Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare extensively to chronicle our training and, of course, race day.  The best part for myself is that using Twitter should keep me motivated  not to  skip or shorten runs. Now that I am doing this, everyone I am connected to in social media will know how I train and how well I run in the race.

Not only will the team be raising money using social media, but Rally, Universal McCann's new social media division led by social media maven Heidi Browning, has offered to make a generous donation to Camp Interactive to sponsor my running adventure. I figured what better sponsor for a team of social media geeks, supporting a charity that helps kids by introducing them to technology and teaching them to use it to change their lives, then a division focused on helping brands understand the latest and greatest uses of social media?

Well, here I go -- from not running, to 26.2 miles in three months. Keep up with the comedy at www.twitter.com/joemarchese. I figure if nothing else, at least I'll get in shape for my totally inexplicable nomination to Libby Pigg'sBold & Digital Men of Social Media calendar (fellow marathon runners @tobyd and @dens are also nominated). I think after a drink or two, I might have promised Libby I'd do an "Old Spice Towel" video thank-you if I got March. Better get back to training!