I DID IT!!!

Wow! That's me in the blue crossing the finish line - arms aloft and just look at the stride!

And, one bottle of Nyetimber sparkling wine to be won by a lucky contributor for all donations made between 17th May and 18th June. The draw for the lucky winner will be made on Monday 21st June. Please contribute now and you could be a winner!!! Thanks to Adele - see below...

The winner of my draw for the Nyetimber sparkling wine (made at Storrington Amateur Dramatic Society on 20th April) is Adele Lloyd. Thank you to Adele and everyone for believing in me and your donations! And an even bigger thank you for letting me keep the bubbles as a raffle prize to try top up the money!!!

My first ever marathon and in a splendid time for me - CAN YOU GUESS WHAT TIME I DID?. Please make a donation with your guess, and the closest to my actual time will win a Parker Pen - donated kindly by The Scribbling Shop, Storrington.

It was really tough, but my plan worked out splendidly! If you would like Mike's tip for running your first marathon at a mature age, then please donate to this page with your email address, and I will send you a copy of my planning - which includes NO LONG practice runs!!! Now that can't be bad can it?

Thank you to everyone who believed in me, and most importantly my charitable cause "Albion in the Community", before the run.

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I agreed to run the inaugural Brighton marathon on Sunday 18th April 2010 to help raise money for "Albion in the Community" AITC.

AITC – a registered charity (UK Registered Charity Number 1110978) – which provides a variety of services (education, health, disability courses, etc) for children and adults alike. AITC is the community side of Brighton & Hove Albion football club and is run entirely separately – hence its charity status.

To date, the volunteer work I have been involved with concerns educating classes of school children in extra-curricula learning activities based along the themes of football. The children “sign up” for a 10 week educational course after school in English and Maths to supplement their school learning.

The classroom activities are constructed to make learning fun through the theme of football. Last week  we used some of the press releases as part of their punctuation learning activity in English, and goal scoring opportunities to bring home angles in Maths.

Some of the children do not even like football per se, but are attending in their own time to improve their own skills and education. Learning in this way is fun for them!

I was so impressed with the work they perform, that as soon as they offered “Magic” places for the inaugural Brighton marathon, I took the decision to run for their cause. I have never run a marathon before, but will be undertaking the 26 miles on Sunday April 18th to raise money for this very worthwhile cause – you only have to see the enjoyment on the kids faces, and their improvement week by week, to know this is worthwhile.

Please support me by making a donation.