Story
Hi!
Thank you for making it to my JustGiving page.
Friday night 15th January 2010 - bike is stolen from work – VERY CROSS
Saturday – CROSS
Sunday – STILL CROSS
Monday – FAIRLY CROSS, but…have been informed of a spare London Marathon place going through work…intrigued about the possibility of an alternative means of getting to work (running) – APPLY
Tuesday – IN – start of a daily 6 mile run to work commute and 95 days to get myself shipshape for pounding the 26.2 miles of tarmac around London on 25th April – VERY HAPPY(ish)!
That is how this JustGiving page and my running of the London Marathon came to be and I intend to make the most of a brilliant opportunity. That means a few things…
It means I am going to use this as an opportunity to raise some money for a cause that I feel is absolutely worth the blood, sweat and tears that are to come over the next 3 months. I want to raise £1500 for a charity called Carers UK. Carers UK represents those generous and fundamental people in society who take time out of their own life to look after an ill, disabled or elderly friend, partner or family member.
“Every year 2.3 million people - 6,000 a day - become carers for the first time. Many simply do not know what help is available. It has its rewards but it can also be one of life's toughest challenges. The stresses and strains of caring round the clock take its toll on your health and finances.”
I know many carers (as I am sure we all do) and their work is always hugely admirable and vital for so to achieve a reasonable quality of life. More importantly though is that for so many carers this is something forced upon them and often at difficult and trialling times in their own life. This means that their ability to provide the care needed may be limited and cause stress, health and many other issues for both parties. Carers UK tries to make sure that everyone has the help and support to provide adequate levels of care and that is why I want to try and do a little bit to help them continue this service.
It also means I am going to put the miles in beforehand not just to ensure I finish, but to ensure I finish in a reasonably respectable time. A natural target for any marathon virgin seems to be to try and go sub 4 hours, I am aiming for sub 3 hours and 45 minutes.
I went and bought some running shoes the other day and the man who sold them to me (and analysed my running gait!) said I should be aiming to do double the time I can do a half-marathon in (for me that’s about 1 hour 40 minutes) and add on 10 minutes. So 3 hours 30 minutes then! Yeah right! Bare in mind this coming from a man hoping to run the marathon in 2 hours 10 minutes! However there is a little bit of me that wants to take on that challenge, despite it seeming completely unrealistic. To do this I will need some extra support…
If you feel you would like to make a donation, please consider adding to your pledge…
“For every minute under 3hrs 30 minutes Will does the London marathon in, I will pledge an extra £25”
The more pledges I get like this, the more training I will put into trying to achieve this goal.
If you have got this far, thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you feel it is worthy of a donation.
I will update this page regularly with details about progress, training, blisters etc.
Thank you!
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.