Dear All,

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Those of you that know me well are very aware that excessive exercise and myself are not best matched…. There has always been regular banter at my work from those that are more compatible with running (in the case of Ian it's more of a shuffling walk), somehow or other this banter turned into a dare to participate in a 5 MILE (8km) race in memory of a lady named Kirste Bowman that lost her life to Cancer in 2012.

This KIRSTE 5 MEMORIAL RACE is being organised by Benfleet Running Club and the race is situated in and around Grove Woods, Rayleigh on Sunday 29th July 2012. Its participants are raising money for two charities MACMILLAN and BOSOM PALS, I have chose MACMILLAN to raise money for via your sponsorship if you would be kind enough to contribute.

Whilst very happy to raise money via enduring pain I am participating mainly because the lads at work (Gary Dillon/Peter Tanner/Morgan Reddish/Ian Jordan) dared me and bullied me into it… It's a one off and if I don't make it those guys are partly to blame, I have a 'pre dare' drink up arranged that I must attend and it's on the night before this race so I will most definitely be suffering some degree of a hangover whilst running the race just to add to the enjoyment of the whole event! It was recently discussed at work that I back out and do the KIRSTE 3km junior kids fun run instead but apparently I don't meet the size restrictions… Any sarcastic/funny comments regards that last statement are very welcome as long as they are associated with a generous donation! I am not a good runner (I HATE RUNNING) so am going to suffer greatly doing this start to finish! Please provide me an additional incentive by donating some money to MACMILLAN Cancer Support, who we all know do great work for people in very difficult times. I have never asked anyone for sponsorship before and will not be doing this again so if you would consider a sponsorship donation I will greatly appreciate it.

Also, if someone could please have a double cheeseburger with ketchup and onions ready for me at the finish line I may just get round the course in one piece and in a reasonable time :-)

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