Following Courtney's Lead, I'm Joining the Challenge!

Readers of this blog already know what Courtney challenged herself to do but in September—to raise money for the ACI scholarship fund by running or riding the equivalent distance from Pittsburgh, PA, home of ACI to Denver, CO, site of the ACI National Home Performance Conference the week of April 20, 2013.  That’s 1399 miles.

For decades, ACI has been educating, and just as importantly, inspiring people to tackle the challenge of improving homes in the U.S. The national ACI conference and the great people who attend and share helped pull me into this field. It really helped me pick up the ball from the leaders and great minds that paved the way for so many people, myself included. Looking in the mirror now, I see a head full of gray hair. While I still have some energy—maybe it’s all that coffee!—I also recognize that I do need to start focusing on the next generation, and make sure there are prepared to keep the industry moving forward, indeed faster than we’ve been able to move over the past 30 years. Helping get some of them to ACI is part of the answer to that mind transfer.

And so, further inspired by Courtney’s commitment, I signed on a couple of weeks ago. Since getting creamed by that Jeep years ago, my running career is over. But I’ll ride, hike, and do my best to approximate running (I’d even paddle, but Lake Champlain is cold!) over the next several months to get to that same 1,399 miles, making my contribution, and matching yours, too, with 50 cents for the dollar you pledge.

Please visit the ACI Challenge website and pledge to support Courtney or me (or both of us!). But more importantly, pledge to help bring new folks to the ACI conference where they can learn, get inspired, and grow into the leaders of tomorrow.

With a later start, I’ve got a scant 178 miles under my belt. So I’d better get moving.

Cheers,
Mike