So, my lovelies, earlier today I put up the #131norun page you see up there on the right – See it? Yeah, that one – after a conversation with my boy Robbie. Rather than make you actually clickety on over, I’ll just reproduce it for you here. You’re welcome.

can y'all *really* see me in this photo? i didn't think so.

Guys, meet Robbie, also known by his pithy twitter handle, @Edgeof30.

Isn’t he pretty??

In a moment of OH EM EFF GEE NEW BESTIE OLD FRIEND weakness, I agreed to train & run a half marathon with him in January 2011. Upon reflection, I have realized OH MY GOD A FUCKING HALF MARATHON I HAVEN’T RUN IN YEARS EFFED UP KNEE WHAT THE FUCK WAS I THINKING.

And so, Robbie has agreed to let me wheedle out of this arrangement if I can get him 131 (BECAUSE A HALF MARATHON IS 13.1 MILES. I KNOW!) new followers on le tweet during the month of October.

To satisfy all you crazies who think I should actually do this half marathon business, I am actually going to try. However, like all good former Girl Scouts (yes, I do still have the uniform; why do you ask?), I’m setting this up as a back-up plan for last-minute lazy copouts.

So, to help me preserve my knees, my laziness and my belief in my own self-importance, please, please, please go follow him (click here & then follow) and @ us both to let us know.

Running tally as of 10:30 pm EDT 10/1/2010: 56 out of 131 followed. HELP A GIRL OUT!

I tweeted about it all afternoon, getting – of course – thrown in #twitterjail as a result, and have managed a prettttttty wonderful showing for the first day of the challenge.

Now, it is important that you know I am actually still planning on at least training for the damn thing – it’s just nice to have an out… and winning is pretty sweet.

So if you haven’t yet played along, please tweet to both Robbie and me and let him know you’re on my team. ‘Cause you are, right? Right.

The real reason for this post, though, is something far greater than the already-pretty-damn-great-Mer-winning challenge. I KNOW. Even greater. Get. Excited.

No, it’s so much bigger than my self-importance.

With such a fun and immediate response we got today, Robbie and I realized we could do so much more with the many people we reach each day, and we want to start doing just that.

Starting November 1^st, we want to reach as many tweeps as possible – from stay-at-home-moms and -dads to celebrities to news outlets to dating bloggers to college students – we want to encourage everyone to help out by donating in-kind, in service or time, or the cost of a Thanksgiving meal to charities that support anti-bullying efforts, teen suicide prevention, LGBTQ acceptance and other related causes.

We’re still in the planning stages, but we’d like your help. Are you connected with organizations like the Trevor Project, the Pacer Center or Matthew’s Place, or someplace local, near you? Do you have a blog or other outlet on which you’d like to promote this project as well? Can you think up a good hashtag or other strategy to help us succeed?

We’re not looking to create and administer a charity – too many good people already do that. But we know this problem exists, and we know it’s time to do what we can, right now.

Please join us.