UPDATE: TO SEE THE NEW BANANAMAN VIDEOS, PHOTOS AND NEWS UPDATES PLEASE CLICK ON THE "URL/LINKS" TAB BELOW

*** UPDATE ***

May 14, 2009

Today, I got a phone call from Booth. I was excited to hear from him, as we were supposed to be meeting up at Bay to Breakers in San Francisco this weekend. Unfortunately, the phone call was not a happy one. Booth's father, Lanny suffered a massive heart attack this morning. His heart stopped beating for over two and half minutes and he remains in critical condition with very little brain function.

Booth and Clementine will need the support now more than ever. If you can afford to give, please consider helping out. Every little bit counts

Thanks for your help!

Ethan

*** UPDATE ***

FEB 7, 2009

BananaMan Polar Plunge Part 2. I will be jumping into an icy Lake Michigan at Oak Street Beach. Pictures available now under the URL/Links section

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The BananaMan Adventures Part Deux

As many of you know, two years ago I trained for the Marine Corps Marathon to raise money for St. Jude Children's Cancer Research Hospital.

I promised you all that if you helped me raise $5000, I would run the marathon in a banana costume.

Unfortunately, after nearly 200 people had generously donated to my campaign and helped me raise over $6000 for cancer research, I managed to injure my knee playing soccer two weeks before the marathon.

I was never able to run 26.2 and fulfill my promise to you all. This failure has haunted BananaMan ever since.

My knee has never fully recovered and I don't know if I'll ever be able to run a full marathon. However, I have come up with a solution to fulfill my promise and restore honor to the Austin family name.

In 2008, BananaMan is making a triumphant return to the marathon scene by running "the Banana Split-Marathon". What is a Banana Split-Marathon? Well, simply put, it's a marathon split in two: Two races, one Idiot, one banana costume and 26.2 miles of redemption.

The First Leg of the Split took place Sunday, October 12, 2008. I ran 13.1 miles of the Chicago Marathon in full Banana regalia. Pictures from the run are available above and the full recap is available below under the "URL/Links" Tab

The Second Leg of the Split will take place on December 13th at the Rose Bowl Half Marathon in Pasadena, CA. I will be running this half marathon with my awesome sister, Erica, who has agreed to dress up as an apple.

So after this EXTREMELY long introduction, let me get to the point. I am busting out the banana costume once again because I am raising money for my good friend, Booth Fellers' daughter, Clementine who is the sweetest little girl in the world and just lost her mother to cancer earlier this year. Sadly, after Jamie passed away, Clemmie's maternal grandparents decided to institute a cross-state custody lawsuit against Booth. After nine months in court, Booth won the case and retains full custody of Clementine; however, he had to pay over $70,000 in legal fees in the process.

So now Booth is a 26 year-old single father. He doesn't have very much money and he's working his tail off to do everything he can to provide for Clementine. Certainly, this current economic crisis is not making things any better. I am trying to help just a tiny, tiny bit by raising $1500 to start a college scholarship fund for Clemmie.

I know money is pretty tight right now with the craziness that has been going on in the economy. However, any donation is appreciated, and every little bit counts. Also, if you have any friends who might be interested in helping please pass this along with the "tell a friend" button above.

Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot to me, and I will keep you updated throughout these adventures.

All the best,

Ethan