Night of the Moustache Rocked!

For detailed photo questions, like, "Who's the hot chick with the lip hair?", click a picture, then the link to my Flickr site.

Friday night, everyone's efforts finally came together at the Night of the Moustache Benefit at the Tiniest Bar In Texas.

Despite the chilly weather that decided to set in on the day of the event, people turned out in force for the event, kept warm by moustaches, friendly dogs, an army of space heaters, and the grill that churned out dozens of sausage wraps and veggie burgers.

People gave heartily at the door in return for moustaches, gave more at the grill, and the silent auction was hotly contested. Mercedes Orten's cookies alone brought in $21 in tips (Mandy's would have also helped, had they not all been eaten by us as we were setting up).

We're still waiting for the final figures from the sales of the Lone Star keg that was quickly floated, and the vodka and tea drinks. Receipts from the door, silent auction, and other donations alone totalled $1,397. The bar receipts will likely take us close to $2,000. That's a cool grand for each of our two great charities, Emancipe+ and the Dick Beardsley Foundation.

Emancipe+ may also be able to use the money to qualify for a match from a grant fund, doubling the amount to $2,000.

I'm extremely proud of everyone for pulling together, being willing to help, and making this happen. I've got to give some special thanks, though, to:

Mandy, who, in addition to bearing a wealth of movie quotes and encycolpedic knowledge about varieties of deviant behavior, also has a natural instinct for promotion. She suggested we use the already-booked entertainment, she suggested the silent auction, contributed to it, and pitched in Friday night. She's largely responsible for Team Spiridon in the first place, even though she isn't able to run with us this season.

Eve, for designing the great flyers and picking up my slack at the 11th hour to make up really nice looking bid sheets. Again, she's been a strong supporter all along, and is always willing to help/plan waffle parties.

Stacy, for printing up a ton of said cool flyers, as well as our press releases, on a beautiful laser copier. Hopefully, we'll see her back running with us soon...

Lounell, for mobilizing her entire office in a search for moustaches, even turning up good deals from suppliers in Hong Kong.

Daniel, who thought a benefit concert would be a great idea in the first place. Up to that point, I only knew the benefit would involve beer.

Jean, another Spiridon original gangsta, who, due to being due in... January?... can't run with us this season, but is still supporting us, and came out to help set up and work the door.

Mercedes, for her overwhelming positivity, and her awesome chocolate chip cookies.

Laura, Jenn, and Jane, who did anything else that needed to be done, which amounted to a whole lot, all the time.

The Girlfriend, Christina, who kept me at an efficient level of mentalness last week (and often, really), even helping me make decisions on the 50 sausages we bought, when she's a vegetarian.

David and Jason of the Tiniest Bar In Texas, and their evil henchmen, John, Connor, and James. They're always down for an event, particularly one for a cause, and they're more interested in making the event a success than in making a buck. They've been great to us, and we shall do our best to pay back with our patronage of their establishment (that means lots of Lone Star tallboys for me).

Finally, a huge thanks to all the great businesses that donated for the silent auction, and didn't bat an eyelash when I came at them a few days before the event:

• The three great running stores in Austin: Bettysport, Hill Country Running Company, and RunTex. Please, shop at all three - we always need to make room in this town for healthy competition like them that do things right, and care about the running community and the people (and dogs and cats) in it.
• Tito's Vodka
• Mellow Johnny's
• The makers of the fantastic movie, Spirit of the Marathon (which we're helping to bring to the Alamo Drafthouse on Austin Marathon Weekend)
• Dirty Dog Dog Wash
• Nike (thanks, Ash!)
• Thundercloud Subs
• Austin Guardian
• Third Base Sports Bar
• eŌs Dermatology and Med Spa
• The Longhorn Club
• Girl Guitar Austin
• Amanda Thomas - another original Spiridon runner, who does beautiful stained glass work
• Frugal Media
• Fit One Austin

Our fundraising and funraising (and occasional hellraising) aren't over, though. We got miles and miles yet to run. I know not everyone is comfortable with mroe direct fundraising, but I'm hoping some of you will join me for some of the more traditional bit of, "Hey, I'm training my butt off, here. I'll run the half marathon or marathon, and you'll give some money to charity, aight?" I'll get those details to you soon...

Thanks again, everyone. For my runners, your attitude (mmmostly...) and hard work (mmmostly...) make all this tremendously worthwhile for me, and our ability to do some good outside of our own lives is just a massive bonus. Keep working, keep smiling, keep running...