Story
April 17th 2005, Buckingham Palace, London, England, around 1pm. Jelly legs, bleeding from both nipples, crying salty tears and smelling a bit like poo, I said “never again”. Never again would I exert myself – not just to the agonising 26.2 miles (42k) where I constantly ignored my body’s plea for leniency as it shut down on me one function at a time, but – to the monotony of a 15 week training program. Having to say ‘no’ to just about everything that sounded like fun. Replacing lunches, nights out and parties with a daily date between me and the tarmac.
But time is a great healer. And 4 years on I’ve managed to blank out all the horrible memories. Having to be assisted by race stewards after cramping-up in Parliament Square, hitting the wall but it feeling more like being hit with a sledgehammer and stopping for a ‘Paula Radcliffe’ seem like a lifetime ago and I’m now ready to throw myself in to the challenge of the 5 boroughs: the New York Marathon 2009. Training is not going quite as well as it did in 2005, which is an ominous portent in itself, but I’m confident that between now and November 1st I can get myself into some sort of condition whereby I can somehow make it round the course without giving myself a cardiac arrest... and if Eddie bloody Izzard can do 43 then surely to God I can manage another 1!!
The charity I’m running for is the Royal National Institute for Blind People. Having raised money for Oxfam and the Family Welfare Association in the past, I thought that I’d choose something a bit different and personally I can’t think of anything more horrendous than having to live without sight. Your donation will help this amazing charity put provisions in place for people who have to live with blindness and help them live as normal a life as possible.
Knowing that I’ve got such a tremendous network of family, friends and colleagues, I’ve given myself a stretch target of raising £1500. I know this won’t be easy, but if you can all give what you can to this very worthy cause I’ll make should be able to do it. Many of you will be aware that the charity offer to pay travel expenses for those who raise a certain amount but in the spirit of all this I will not be taking any money from the charity so your money will be going directly to the RNIB’s commendable projects.
As always, the charity can claim Gift Aid of at least 20% on every donation made by UK taxpayers, so please tick this box if this applies to you.
As an extra bit of fun, each person making a donation is entitled to guess my finishing time and I’ll buy a bottle of nice champagne to the person who gets the closest without going over. This is only a bit of fun and does not affect your Gift Aid claim. Email guesses to mmcginty@its.jnj.com
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. Please give generously.. and wish me luck!
Cheers,
Martin