And he's off to the races!

Jeff left this afternoon to head to Morocco for the Marathon des Sables - I still can't believe he's doing it! The past few days have been completely full with preparations for this event and the fundraiser, so he was happy to finally be packed up and ready waiting for the train. (note what his shirt says - pretty appropriate for his upcoming days!):

When using trains, it always seems to be the "hurry up, and wait, and hurry again" syndrome. We ran down the hill from our apartment for him to catch his train, only to get there early and have to wait (at least it gave us time to take the above picture).

Then when the train arrived, it stopped further down the track than we thought, so Jeff had to sprint to catch it! Quite an abrupt start to a marathon trip, with no warmup! Here he is sprinting to jump on with his suitcase...

Before he left, Jeff really enjoyed receiving all your encouraging comments on his blog as well as on the fundraiser site. Thank you all for your generosity and your support for both UNICEF and for Jeff. It is much appreciated!! If you are interested in donating to UNICEF/ING Chances for Children in support of Jeff's race and haven't already, it's not too late - you can just click here to contribute.

If you would like to follow Jeff's progress across the Sahara, stay tuned to his blog, where I'll post updates as soon as I receive them. There's also info continuously updated on the main Marathon des Sables website. Guess who was featured on that site recently? I'll give you one guess...

It is exciting to have the opportunity to bring so much awareness to such a good cause. Now I just hope Jeff's travels and his run experience are so positive as well... Stay tuned!