I hear the Amsterdam Marathon is flat which is good as this is the first one I've done (and I imagine it will also be the last)  I started running last February but I am by no stretch of the imagination a runner.  I managed a half marathon last year, limping round after a bravado fueled drunken bet.

So why am I doing this tortuous thing?

Last July whilst driving in the far North West of Scotland me and my other half stumbled upon what we thought was a pod of dolphins in the Kyle of Durness, after taking a few photos we realised that they were actually pretty big and the water was pretty shallow, soon after the coastguard arrived and a crowd started to gather.  This turned out to be the largest mass stranding of Pilot Whales in Scotland ever.

The initial response from the coastguard was not promising - estimating that the tide would be out in a few hours and most if not all would die.  Determined not to just sit back and let this happed a ramshackled band of helpers including Navy bomb disposal divers, fishermen, local lads and me and Paul donned wetsuits and went out in some of the local fishermans boats to try to herd those still in the deeper channel back out along the 4 or 5 kilometers to open sea.  Others were already beached or very nearly beached, so for the next 11 hours we were in the water literally heaving the 2 tonne animals off the sand and into the water, with no specialist equipment we dug with our hands and attempted to swim the animals back out to sea, two people per whale.  Paul spent hours propping up the largest whale with his back so it didn't roll over and suffocate.  This was by far the hardest day of my life.

Within hours people from the BDMLR strted to arrive to help, they knew how to deal with the situation and how to keep those that had stranded alive until the tide returned.  Exhaustion and darkness meant that we had to give up and leave but the BDMLR were thre the next day and the next right through to the end.  We saved 45 out of around 70. 

Since 1988, BDMLR have been involved in the rescue of marine wildlife after every major marine disaster, including the Braer shipwreck in Shetland and the Sea Empress grounding in Milford Haven. The Marine Mamal Medics are all volunteers trained by the BDMLR they are the primary marine animal rescue organisation in the country and are not only called upon by the other emergency services, but also train their staff.  They are a registered charity funded only through donations. 

Before the 23rd of July I'd never heard of them, but the work they do is absolutely brilliant.  I want to raise money for them to help buy more equipment, like pontoons for refloating.  Pontoons were deployed at the rescue at Durness but it was too late to use them as they had to come from so far away.  If they had easier acces to them we would have been able to save more.

In short you should sponsor me if; you like me/ like what I'm doing, you like marine mammals/ want to help them, you disslike me and want to see me suffer.

This will be hard I'm sure but not as hard as that day in Scotland.