In 2012 I will attempt to finish my first marathon, and not just any marathon, the Boston marathon. I will be running for the Melanoma Foundation, a charity that looks at Melaonma with an upstream focus and created to combat the rising rate of melanoma and melanoma deaths. They provide educational programs targeting the prevention and early detection of skin cancer and melanoma for both children and adults! My goal is to raise $10,000 for them, and any amount helps.You can purchase burpees for $50 each, and there is only 351 343 of them available! I will do all the burpees over the course of the marathon, so the more you donate, the more pain I get to endure :) You can also donate for the heck of it, or because you support the cause but not suffering!

Burpee Breakdown

My fundraising goal is $10,000.00. You can donate and amount of  money, goods or services within your ability. I am also selling off burpees during the marathon for $50 each, I will do up to 26 burpees on mile 1, 25 burpees on mile two, ect ect with a maximum number of burpees capped at 351 (this would mean I do reverse burpee madness along the course). If you want me to do a burpee in memory of a loved one, or for a loved one battling cancer, please email me with a little bit about your loved one, and maybe even a picture. I will be making great area just for them! If every burpee got purchased, I would raise over $17,500!!!


A little Burpee History


The exercise known as the “burpee” may have been originated by a man named Lieutenant Thomas Burpee. Lt. Burpee (1757-1839) was an officer in the New Hampshire Militia during the Revolutionary War and was described as “having the innate Burpee fondness for martial exercises” in A History of the Town of New London, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. Lt. Burpee may have used the combination of pushups and squat thrusts as a means of drilling, conditioning, and disciplining the troops under his command. In addition, the exercise may have also been used by the troops as a way to stay warm during the winters in wartime New England. 

The military tradition of the Burpee family was carried on by Colonel Thomas F. Burpee. As a captain of the 21st Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Col. Burpee (1830-1864) was described as having “offered his well-drilled company” for service in the call-to-arms leading up to the Civil War in The Story of the Twenty-First Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Col. Burpee may have continued his grandfather’s regimen of drilling, conditioning, and disciplining his troops with what could have been known as “Burpee’s exercises”.
Following the Civil War, as the former soldiers were released back into the world, some fell into lives of crime. Criminals eventually find themselves incarcerated, whether in jails or prisons, and New England certainly had no shortage of those. Those New England inmates who used to be soldiers in the 21st Regiment incorporated “Burpee’s exercises” into their daily routine to combat boredom and to stay in shape for fighting on the inside. Other inmates no doubt saw the benefits that came with daily “burpee” exercises and added them to their own daily routines. As these inmates were transferred to different jails and prisons around the country over the years, the “burpee” followed along with them, entering the fitness and exercise lore as a workout that originated in the prison system. As it appears, however, the burpee may have been born instead in the long military history of New England.


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