TNT Update: Bizarre Coincidences with the Presidential Tickets

My Fellow Americans, and Citizens of the World,

The presidential election is over, after a grueling two years. Whoever you voted for, we can all agree that this was an incredibly historic event for the USA. May we all unite as Americans, and give President-elect Obama a chance to make our country better. Our country and the world face immense problems, and they are not going to get solved with partisan bickering.

While the presidential campaign is over, my 2009 Cancer Kickin’ Campaign has barely begun. So far, 42 generous donors have donated over $2,200, or 15% towards my ultimate goal of $14,645. I want to take this opportunity, again, to thank all those who have donated. If you would like to make a donation, get campaign updates, or see my donor list, please visit my campaign headquarters at:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/cmc09/aritter

With the election now over, it got me to thinking about all of the incredible, one could even say spooky, coincidences between myself and the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates. When I outline some of these for you, you will be amazed.

For example, John McCain went to the US Naval Academy. I flunked the entrance exam to the USNA. McCain had eagle-eyes enough to become a naval aviator. My eyesight is so poor that when I tried to join the Navy, I flunked the eye exam. Anchors aweigh!

Joe Biden was born in Eastern Pennsylvania, and so was I! Sarah Palin was born in Idaho, and I like potatoes. Plus she and I both like diet Doctor Peppers! Incredible!

Palin’s first (and only) governorship is for Alaska, and my first marathon was in Alaska. McCain’s third senate term was in Arizona, and my third marathon was in Arizona. OK, OK, his first, second, and fourth terms were there too – fine! What are you a lawyer, pointing out that kind of technicality?

Barack Obama is from Chicago, and I once hitchhiked through Chicago, getting stuck there for hours when I couldn’t get a ride, and nearly getting arrested for hitchhiking there. Every state I hitched through on the way north (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and ending up on Isle Royale in Michigan) went for Obama. Plus on that trip, I saw my first moose! Palin loves to hunt moose. I have never hunted moose but I did work as a biologist technician at moose hunting check points during two moose seasons. Can’t be mere coincidence, all these tie-ins between me and these two very different candidates.

Palin said that the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick. I say that the difference between a cancer patient and a pit bull is chemo. Palin is a hockey mom, and I celebrated back in 1974 when the Philadelphia Flyers won the NHL Stanley Cup. Come to think of it, could Biden have celebrated as well, being from that area? You betcha!

Obama is great at fund-raising, raising over $600 million. I also do fundraising but not quite with that degree of success. Want to help me close the gap? You know how!

By April 2009 I will have done 4 marathons – two in states that went for McCain / Palin (red), two in states that went for Obama / Biden (blue). Equal mixtures of blue and red, when mixed, form purple, the TNT color. How amazing is that?

Obama raised $150,000,000 in one month, Palin got clothes worth $150,000, and my entire wardrobe is worth about $150, not counting my running shoes of course. The Republican National Committee gave Palin clothing, and Team in Training will give me a purple race singlet. (Unlike Governor Palin, however, I will write the names of cancer patients all over mine – I think that would have been frowned upon had Sarah Palin done that.)

Biden graduated from the University of Delaware and played some football there. My freshman year, I performed at halftime at the football game in Delaware Stadium between the Villanova Wildcats and the Delaware Blue Hens as a member of the Wildcat Sometimes Marching Sometimes Standing-Still Sometimes Totally Confused But Always Having Fun Marching Band.

McCain is currently serving his fourth term in the US Senate, while I am currently training for my fourth event for TNT. Likewise, Governor Palin went to four separate colleges to earn her Bachelor’s Degree. I only went to one college to earn mine, but I was there four years. Obama has been in the US Senate for four years. Biden served six terms in the US Senate and ran for president twice. Six take away two is four – how weird is that? What it is about the number four and the four of them, and me?

Biden was accused of plagiarism in law school. I write stuff so whacky – like this - that no one would want to plagiarize it.

Both John McCain and I both had serious medical conditions ending in “oma”. McCain loves to hike, and so do I, although I think we must hike in separate places because I’ve never seen him.

Palin said that from an island in Alaska, one can see Russia. When I did the Anchorage marathon, I couldn’t see Russia, but I sometimes could see mountains through the rain, and Russia has lots of mountains.

In my first year with TNT, the distance covered in the marathon and 10K that I was in would have been enough to cross Biden’s Delaware on foot. During my first three seasons with TNT, all my race and training miles would have taken me from one end of Palin’s Alaska to the other, which is 1,480 miles.

I think by now, you are realizing that all these similarities among McCain, Obama, Biden, Palin, and I cannot be mere coincidence. There is something really mysterious going on here. While thinking about all this, it seemed so surreal that at times I started hearing that “Twilight Zone” music – Du-du-du-du – Du-du-du-du.

On a serious note, all four of these fine Americans said that the next four years can’t be like the last eight. I agree – in the last eight years, approximately 420,000 Americans died of blood cancer. And that is just American citizens – world-wide the numbers would be even more staggering. Work with me so that we can lower that number over the next four years, and maybe reduce it to a negligible numbers in 8 or 12.

The election of Barack Obama this past week is a landmark historical event. I am hoping that in the not too distant future – 5, 10, 15 years – we will hear the American President address the nation to announce another amazing historical event: that all types of blood cancer are now curable. When that happens, anyone doing Team in Training, and anyone who made a donation in support of the TNT endurance athletes, will have helped make that possible.

I thank you for your support!

Art

Art Ritter in 2009 – He will go the Distance for you!