E. J. Scott to Accept Visionary Award Presented by US Road Sports at Allstate Life Insurance(SM) Los Angeles 13.1 Marathon® and 5K

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Allstate Life Insurance 13.1 Marathon and 5K

Jan 09, 2013, 11:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- To run a marathon is on many people's bucket list. To run one marathon a month for a year is a huge challenge that few runners ever accomplish. To run one marathon a month, blindfolded, borders on the impossible. In 2012, E.J. Scott did just this!

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130109/CG39306)

E. J. Scott, diagnosed with Choroideremia (CHM) in 2003, has been selected to receive the Visionary Award at the fourth annual Allstate Life Insurance^SM 13.1 Marathon® and 5K on Jan. 13. The 13.1 Marathon begins at 7 a.m. in Venice, Calif., and ends by the ocean in Playa Del Rey. The Allstate® Life Insurance 5K follows at 7:15 a.m.

The Visionary Award Presented by US Road Sports was established to recognize an athlete with the Vision and foresight to change sport, in a positive way, through innovative thinking and constructive actions both within competition and in life.

Choroideremia is a disease that has robbed Scott of all but 15 percent of his eyesight. It is a degenerative eye disease, which makes him very sensitive to light. Despite this, he completed a crusade to run one marathon a month in 2012 and raised more than $90,000 for the Choroideremia Research Foundation.

Scott, an actor and comedian now in his mid-30s, will run blindfolded in the Allstate® Life Insurance 5K on Jan. 13 along with his girlfriend Deborah Ann Woll, best known as Jessica Hamby on HBO's True Blood.

"E. J. Scott is a true visionary in his efforts to raise awareness of his eye disease, Choroideremia, and also in his fundraising work to combat this disease," said Greg Laird, CEO and Managing Partner of the event organizer, US Road Sports.

Scott created the idea of running 12 marathons in 12 months in 12 states, running all of them blindfolded, to raise research money for Choroideremia. "My biggest fear about going blind is that I won't get to see my-yet-to-be-born or conceived children grow up and be involved with them visually," he said. "I have two small nephews and a brother that all have the disease and that's pretty frightening. This is why I run." Scott's sister was diagnosed as a CHM carrier and her oldest son, Liam, tested positive in 2005; Aidan, the youngest son, has also tested positive.

"In 2010 I ran the Chicago Marathon after previously running two, half-marathons," Scott said. "That's when the idea came to me. I thought, what if I run 12 marathons and get 12 times the exposure for the fight against Choroideremia, and it was a chance to raise 12 times the money."

The 2013 ALLSTATE LIFE INSURANCE^SM LOS ANGELES 13.1 MARATHON® AND 5K
Registration is open for the Allstate Life Insurance^SM Los Angeles 13.1 Marathon® and 5K on Sunday, Jan. 13. More than 4,500 runners will run the streets of the South Bay at the Allstate Life Insurance^SM Los Angeles 13.1 Marathon®, starting at Rose Avenue on the Venice Boardwalk and ending on the shores of the Pacific at the end of Culver Boulevard in Playa Del Rey.

Runners will celebrate finishing the event with friends and family at the Michelob Ultra Finish Line Festival. Live entertainment, food and refreshments, including the Michelob Ultra beer garden, will highlight festivities. Participants will also be able to donate their running shoes through a special partnership between Allstate and non-profit Give Your Sole (giveyoursole.org), to provide moderately-worn athletic shoes to the Los Angeles-area homeless community.

Allstate Life Insurance^SM 13.1 Marathon® is the series of half marathons serving some of America's top running communities with stand-alone half marathon events. The Los Angeles stop will kick-off the 2013 calendar for the series. Following the Los Angeles race will be events in Miami Beach (March 9), New York City (March 23), Chicago (June 8), Boston (September), Atlanta (October), Dallas (October 26) and Fort Lauderdale (November 10). For more information, please visit www.131losangeles.com.

About Allstate^{® :}The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the "You're In Good Hands With Allstate^®" slogan, Allstate^® is reinventing protection and retirement to help nearly 16 million households insure what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow. Consumers access Allstate^® insurance products (auto, home, life and retirement) and services through Allstate agencies, independent agencies, and Allstate^® exclusive financial representatives in the U.S. and Canada, as well as via www.allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate^®. As part of Allstate's commitment to strengthen local communities, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate^® employees, agency owners and the corporation provided $28 million in 2011 to thousands of nonprofit organizations and important causes across the United States.