Michael Tartaglia

Click here to donate. Read on to follow the mission...

Who am I?

I'm Mikey Tarts, an amateur distance runner from Westchester County, NY, fundraising for Children's Heart Foundation. 

Running has become a hobby and passion of mine, helping me keep my head clear and body in fit form. Starting in late 2016 with a kitschy "cupcake 5k," I've since trained myself to run multiple marathons and half-marathons. It has not always been this way...

Why Children's Heart Foundation?

As a grade-schooler, my pediatrician heard a "tick" through his stethascope. He referred my parents and I to a cardiologist who uncovered a heart defect: bicuspid aortic valve ("BAV"). Restrictions were put in place to prevent me from stress: no weight lifting, no football, no insane thrill rides... no running. It was not until I was a mature adult when these restrictions were mostly lifted. (Today, I have annual cardiology checkups and MRI monitoring, and run with the doctor's approval.)

Your donation will suppport the Children's Heart Foundation, whose mission is to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of congenital heart defects by funding the most promising research. I run today partly because I was told I could not when I was younger – kids should be kids!

How are you fundraising?

I am choosing to do something wild and crazy to celebrate the health I have, and to raise funds for aiding research into congenital heart defects ("CHD"). The plan is to complete a half-marathon distance (13.1 miles) in each of New York State's 62 counties: 62 x 13.1 = $812.20. That's a goal of $1 per mile!

For this challenge – should anyone wish to follow suit – there are three guidelines: (1) all runs [each 13.11mi+ in this case] must be in a continuous outdoor session, (2) the session must be completed fully within a county's borders, and (3) there must be GPS data to accompany the run. To hold myself accountable, I will be posting the date, county run, and a link to the GPS and run data in a table below. 

Thank you for your support – and I hope to see you on those NY trails sometime soon!

The Children's Heart Foundation was founded in 1996 and is the country's leading organization solely dedicated to funding congenital heart defect (CHD) research. 

Our mission is to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of congenital heart defects by funding the most promising research.