Thanks for taking the time to visit my Ironman Lanzarote JustGiving page.
In order to make my pain and suffering more worthwhile, I am looking to raise some funds for the PACE centre - a charity that provides significant help to families who are directly affected by Cerebal Palsy.

In order to understand why, I'd like you to read the following.....(c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley)
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this...
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and here you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills ...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy ...and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say
"Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ...about Holland.
To many PACE families these moving words seem to aptly sum up their journey, and it is the reason why I've chosen to support this charity.

 

Ironman Lanzarote is more than just a triathlon....not only is it over the Ironman distance of a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike, and a 42.2km run (yes......that's a full marathon!)....but Lanzarote is renowned as being one of the toughest courses and the harshest conditions in which to compete. Race day is typically in the high 20's with a stiff breeze in excess of 20mph blowing. Add to that the fact that the bike course covers over 2500m of climbing as it loops around the volcanic landscape of the island and you can begin to see why it's gonna be a tough day at the office.

I've been training since November for this particular race, and I hope that the 5:30am alarm calls, the early morning swims, long bike rides and struggles with an achilles injury, have all been worthwhile. But lets be honest...it's not going to be easy!! 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.