This campaign is to raise money to fund the actual run itself, if you'd like to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project before the run starts, please go to http://badass40.com/page/barefoot-warrior-project
I'm the kind of guy that really gets off motivating other people to get off the couch, turn off the computer, go outside....do shit!! I started a website called Badass40.com to specifically target the Gen-X aged couch potatoes like I was. BUT...a great idea for a website and all the good it can do is only effective if people you know....go to it. So, how do I get people to go to badass40.com...hmmm....then it hit me!! Some kind of viral, guerilla style marketing stunt that will require some funding but will garner WAY more media attention than I could ever afford to buy. The Barefoot Warrior was born. I'm a very capable runner, so I thought, "I'll friggin run from my house all the way to Times Square!!". I dug around a little bit on Google and found out there's not really anything special about that. LOTS of people have ran much farther...but very few have done it barefoot!. Boom. Done. I'll do it barefoot. As a note, I will do as much of the run barefoot as possible. During the inevitable times when my feet are chewed up, bleeding or pointing the wrong way, and permenant injury is inevitable I am going to run in Xero Shoes. These are a form of huarache sandal. This will be as an alternative to being laid up healing in some strange town in the middle of nowhere, and keeping the run going.
My next thought was that this is going to be damn cool, and alot of people are going to hear about it once I get going. It's going to get some attention. There needs to be a kick ass charity that also benefits from this. Since I am a big fan and surviving participant in Tough Mudder events, I immediately decided to raise awareness for The Wounded Warrior project....the same charity Tough Mudder benefits. Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors. It simply doesn't get more noble than that.
What We Need & What You Get
Here's the skinny
This project has two legs...donations made to the Wounded Warrior Project during the event, and then funding to support the event itself. I have the donations part covered on my site, but I need to fund the run. I figured roughly $20,000 will be needed to pay for food and water as well as supplies like Gatorade, moleskin, first aid, baby wipes, batteries and the big one...gas for the support van. (Van already donated.)
Exact details on the perks are below, but I have some great reasons why you should help fund this project!! Many of the perks include you actually being directly involved in the run...which is cool!
So..what if I raise the $20,000 I need and only use $16,000 of it. I am going to open a discrete checking account with these funds that will have it's own debit card for the purpose of easy record keeping. Once the project is finished, which I estimate will take about 100 days to run, I will donate any remaining funds to The Wounded Warrior Project.
The Impact
Why should you give some of your hard earned money to this project? Two reasons, you'll help me get my website off the ground. It's a site that is going to do some real good motivating and inspiring fat and lazy 40 year olds all over the world. Secondly, I plan on raising at least $250,000 for The Wounded Warrior Project. I can't do that if I don't do this crazy run...and this run is going to take money.