On general manners...

There's nothing more awkward than the 5K/10K/"insert random race distance here" charity solicitation. I've run a few of these in my past and have eagerly set up my personal webpage via Kintera or whatever fundraising software du jour is used.

You enter all of your personal information and are asked to set up a fundraising goal. Most sites even encourage you to aim for a very high reaching goal. After all, what fun is a reachable goal? Of course, we need to remember that this is all for a good cause and no one is going to execute you for not making it, but for someone like me, for whom the race distance is already a laughable goal, I need to keep it real in some respects.

So you set up the site and then comes the dreaded next step, "Notify your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, trash men, toll ticket takers of your goal and ask them to donate!"

Oof.

When I reach this page of the site, I take it most seriously. I basically think about, "Who will forgive me for sending this to them?"

Again, it's all in the name of a good cause, and that's not lost on me. But more and more people are doing these types of activities for personal reasons and charity's sake. Not too long ago some friends and I discussed how many of these we've started to receive on a regular basis.

Still, I wish other people would take the solicitations as seriously as I do. For example, I'm certain not to include any ex-boyfriends or people to whom I've not spoken in years on my solicitation list.

Friday, I received two solicitations for two races from the same ex. Egad. And I'm not on bad terms with this person. I'm just on no terms with this person. If they send me a message, I typically don't respond. Not because I'm trying to be a jerk, but just because there's really no point to it.

Definitely the type of person I'd request money from.

So, please, if we're friends, co-workers, have sat in DC traffic together, by all means, feel free to send me your charity race solicitation. If, however, one of us has ever uttered the words, "It's not you, it's me" to the other, perhaps you should delete my e-mail address from your "send me money!" campaign. After all, you are a lovely person but I also know how lazy you are and my guess is you're not going to find a cure for AIDS.

Also, it's just common courtesy.