Simon Reason
Please sponsor Simon who's running the Virgin London Marathon 2010
Fundraising for Diabetes UK
Story
I thought I'd add an update for everyone who has sponsored me. Thank you all so much, you've been very generous. I finished the Marathon. There's some action shots attached. It took me 5 hours - and as you can see from the photos I spent most of that eating!
Marathon: Done!
I did it. I ran the Marathon. It took five hours and so far I've raised over £3,000. The generosity of friends, family and colleagues has been astonishing. I'd like to say a big thank you to all those who sponsored me and gave me lots of encourangement in the months leading up to the run. And especially to Santosh who acted as my chief fund-raiser.
The Marathon in numbers:
It took nine months of training during which I covered 600 miles, including 15 half-marathons, 20 10Ks and 45 5Ks. I used five pairs of trainers, almost 150 carbohydrate gels, and two packets of painkillers. I lost 5kg in weight - which is more than offset by the medical supplies I carried during my run - and I got injured once. Oh, and it wasn't until three days after the Marathon that i could, once more, conquer stairs.
The Run:
I started at the very back of the 37,000 runners and am pleased to say that I didn't get overtaken by a rhino or a doughnut. In fact, I sailed by Homer Simpson, a nun, Dracula, the Angel of the North and a man carrying a fridge.There was a dodgy moment when I was trying to sort out my blood sugar and I was overtaken by a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle but I managed to pass her later. I also ran by a fireman wearing full equipment, including breathing apparatus, amazing. Many of the runners were quite humbling. I was in the 'fun runners' group so everyone was there for a reason and for the majority of them it wasn't the running; it was for some great charities doing some great things.
The act of running 26.2 miles wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I found it very difficult running in a crowd as you cannot go at the pace you might like and I made a couple of school-boy errors, one of which led to a major hypoglycemic episode at about mile 16 which took me a mile or so to sort out and had the potential to end the run. When you also factor in that I stopped to chat to my family at mile 14 I think the time is relatively respectable. Oh, and because of the crowds at the start I spent most of the first half of the run zig-zagging through the slower runners. By the time I got to the end my running watch told me I'd done well over 28 miles!
It was a great experience and I raised a lot of money for a good cause. But I think I'm too competitive as I'm genuinely torn between hating running and knowing I can go faster, much faster.........
My Original Text
As you can see from the picture, I used to run for fun. Now I only run for charity.
I am running the Virgin 2010 Marathon to raise money for Diabetes UK, the largest organisation in the UK working for people with diabetes, funding research, campaigning and helping people live with the condition.
I was diagnosed with type one diabetes aged 29. It's a life-changer. I now have: around four injections a day; constant blood sugar monitoring; six monthly exams at hospital, including blood tests (yuk); eye exams, feet exams.... In fact I have more exams now then when I was at school. This all carries costs; time, money, patience, sense of humour. These costs fall on the individuals with diabetes, their families (my Nan makes me sugar free crumble), and the NHS. Diabetes UK is searching for a cure to help minimise these costs in the short term and eradicate them in the long term.
Those of you who know me well know I hate running and that's why I picked this challenge. If i'm to convince you to part with your money I didn't want to do something i'd enjoy and was easy - someone said to me "you could raise the same amount of money just 'falling' out of a plane. It would be over in seconds". Maybe i'm just not that sensible. For those of you who don't know me, and have received a link to this page through a mutual friend, I hope you'll be able to sponsor me for the good cause I represent.
My training has already started so i'm not a complete outside bet. I found out I had a Marathon place in October 2009 and started 'training' in August. That's really when I became Forrest Gump. Now, as I type, in early January 2010 my long Sunday runs are between 10 and 15 miles. I don't do them particularly quickly as my aim is to finish. The training takes up a lot of time; at least three evenings a week and half of Sunday. The moral of the story? I'm giving up my free time, please give up your pennies.
Thank you.
S
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