I’m racing in this year’s IronMan USA held in Lake Placid, NY on July 25th, and I’m doing so to help raise funds for a charity based in Texas called Knowbility (this challenge is only available to US based charities).

For those that aren’t familiar with an IronMan triathlon, here’s how it goes: at 7am 2400 people begin a gruelling day of triathlon racing 3.8km swim (2.4 miles), 180km bike (112 miles), and then run a marathon 42.2 km (26.2 miles). Eventually most of us will make our way across the finish line, though some will not.

In 2007 when I raced it took me forever (my race details are at: Getting Things Done) but I’m determined to do it again, improve my time and I’m committed to raising some funds for a really important charity—Knowbility.

For those of you that know me, It should come as no surprise to you that there is a connection to accessibility—Knowbility is a registered charity based in in Austin, Texas. Accessibility is a huge part of what we do at my company, Further Ahead. Knowbility creates all kinds of programs that foster accessibility—they teach accessible web design and development to high school students, high school teachers, private companies and state agencies; they lead the way in creating a “Barn-raising” type experience where they get teams of designers and developers together to compete against one another creating accessible web sites for local non-profits and organizations. They do really wonderful work, and I’m proud to say I’ve been a part of many of their events and initiatives. Indirectly, it is because of Knowbility that I am where I am today—they first invited me to speak at SXSW in 2005 and I’ve been speaking there and around the world ever since.

So, it is time for me to give back, by helping them raise funds. If you can support the intiative I would be truly grateful and appreciative.

http://januscharitychallenge.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=322488&u=322488-276494865

Many thanks for your time, friends…

(If you’d like to see more about IronMan: http://www.youtube.com/user/ironmantriathlon. Also, this will make you cry as Dick Hoyt competes in IronMan with his son who has Cerebral Palsy: http://tinyurl.com/ironteamhoyt )