From Frank Handelman:

If you didn’t make the marathon lottery, there is still a way to run the ING New York City Marathon 2009 on November 1. Sign up to run for the New York Road Runners Foundation’s Team for Kids, and you will receive guaranteed entry and all the perks that come with it. The head coach of Team for Kids is Frank Handelman, CPTC founder, former president, and (practically) lifelong member, and the team coaches include CPTC’s Neil Fitzgerald, Sid Howard, and Tony Ruiz. You will also be fund-raising to give under-served kids around the world the gift of running. It’s the mission of the NYRR Foundation to provide children with the structure, motivation, and methodology to become physically fit and remain fit for life. The founding father of the Foundation’s efforts to get kids running in New York back in the late 1990s was Norman Goluskin, CPTC member since the 1970s, former club president, and still a hot competitor in his age group.

The pledge to join TFK is $2500.00 for a guaranteed spot in the marathon, $1000.00 for a guaranteed spot in the half-marathon, or $3000.00 for both.

The official Team for Kids training season began in early June, and continues through the half-marathon on August 16, 2009, or marathon on November 1. TFK offers coached workouts in New York City three days a week, and facilitates workout groups between TFK runners in other cities throughout the country. In addition, our online communications network, Flotrack.org, provides detailed workout schedules, coaching advice, and your own profile page. When you run with TFK you are treated like a VIP. On marathon day, members are provided with team buses to Fort Wadsworth, where you will stay warm in the TFK tent with private port-a-johns. Special TFK cheering stations along the race course will ensure that you have the support you need during the run. After you cross the finish line, you will head to the TFK team gathering area close to the finish line, where your baggage will be waiting.

Running for Team for Kids can be a life-changing journey filled with determination, dedication, and the opportunity to not only do something good for yourself, but for kids across the country and around the globe. For more information and instructions on how to sign up, go to www.TFKworldwide.org.