ING New York City Marathon 2011: Top Chef Richard Blais Runs

For a recent vacation we decided to head to the CIA, not the Central Intelligence Agency, but the world famous Culinary Institute of America. We took a tour of the campus, and enjoyed viewing the students working on scrumptious goods like french baguettes and a sinfully rich cheesecake. As we walk by the bakery, the instructor pointed to one of his students to provide some samples to the kids. The kids did not appreciate the velvety texture of the cake, and I was "forced" to finish the slice.

You might be asking, what the New York City Marathon, the CIA and Richard Blais have in common. It turns out that the Season 8 winner of Top Chef All Stars happens to be a graduate of the famous school in 1998. This year he will be running in the 2011 ING New York City Marathon on behalf of

I thought that he should have won Top Chef in Season 4, but choked. However in Season 8, he redeemed himself. His technique and creativity was amazing and I wanted to reach into the television and take a bite. I guess the closest thing to sampling his food would be at least sample the food from his Alma Mata.

While his food put him over the top. It's his drive and determination was what I found attractive (not in that kind of way!) During his exit interview he says, "I don't want to be a cliché, but I willed this!" During the season, you can tell he was focused, which I admire. Live your dreams!

Because of his passion, I started to follow him via Twitter. And he started to tweet about running. I kind of figured that he was running to burn off the calories of his delicious food, but it turns out that he is running the NYC Marathon.

He's leading a team of five first time marathoners to raise $50,000 to support the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The group will provide young people access to physical activity and nutritious food. Since he is a father of 2 children, he see the importance of being a role model, which is common to my goals of creating a healthier community for my children to step into.

Good Luck Richard as well as the 40,000 runners on the course. I will be doing on course support as part of Team for Kids, whose mission is to give kids a running start to life with physical activity programs. I hope I can run with you for a short distance!