Haile Gebrselassie, the greatest-ever distance runner in the world, won the race in 0:59.33. My finishing time was 1:53:48. I had a great race though the last couple of miles were hard work!
The event is over but you can still donate for a little while yet. Thank you all for your support.
Lance
September 12 2010: one week to go
It's all coming together -- last of the long training runs is out of the way and I'm cooking up the pasta -- but Peartree IT still needs your money.
August 22 2010
A couple of people have asked me how much running I do. Here's what I've done this month:
Jul 31 lone training run (17.9 km)
Aug 1 lone training run (7.5 km)
Aug 3 EMAC interval training (5 km)
Aug 4 BMF fitness training (1 hour)
Aug 5 EMAC training run (8.3 km)
Aug 7 race Regent's Park (10 km)
Aug 8 lone training run (10 km)
Aug 10 EMAC interval training (6.5 km)
Aug 12 race Victoria Park (3.5 mile)
Aug 15 lone training run (19.5 km)
Aug 17 race Hackney Marsh (5 mile)
Aug 18 BMF fitness training (1 hour)
Aug 19 EMAC training run (7.6 km)
Aug 22 lone training run (20.25 km)
Incremental overload it's called, apparently. In one or two weeks I can start tapering off the distance to build up a reserve for the race. But not yet.
July 10 2010
Hello. Some of you may remember back in 2007 sponsoring a man wearing £30 trainers, a cotton t-shirt and a bit of a paunch to run red-faced for 10 kilometres around the grounds of Hampton Court.
Well, I finished that race, but I didn't stop there. I kept on running. I am now well into my third pair of proper running shoes, I swapped the cotton shirt for a polyester-lycra mix and, as behoves anyone thinking of wearing close-fitting, synthetic fabrics, I lost the paunch. And I took a quarter of an hour off my 10k time.
The race has changed, too. Ten kilometres is now just a training session -- I'm hard at work preparing for the Great North Run, a half-marathon from the centre of Newcastle out to South Shields, a distance of 13.1 miles. It is the biggest half-marathon event in the world. Celebrity participants will include international-level professional athletes, not just local radio DJs.
It will be quite a challenge for me, and I'm asking for your support. I would love you to come to Newcastle to wave and shout encouragement but it's a long way for most of you, especially on a Sunday morning, with the race shown live on TV. What you can do to cheer me on over your cornflakes and coffee is to give a little cash to help other people rise to their much bigger challenges.
I am raising money for Peartree IT, a small, registered charity based in Edinburgh that seeks to alleviate poverty in developing countries through increasing their IT capacity. Peartree believes that expanding IT education and training empowers individuals to access new knowledge and skills, and improve their employment prospects. Right now, Peartree is working with Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES) in the Ashanti region of Ghana. ICCES run vocational training centres that target young people aged between 14 and 24 in rural communities, where for most this is their only opportunity to continue in education beyond junior high school.
Peartree established and helps maintain the first computer training centre at ICCES in Baworo. A further four ICCES centres have been identified as possible sites for computer centres. Money raised will help maintain the existing centre and future projects.
It would mean a lot to me if you could show your support by making even the smallest donation. Who knows, it might even distract me from the less-than-fragrant aroma of the 53,999 other polyester-clad runners.
For further information on the charity go to www.peartreeproject.org.uk
For further information on the race go to www.greatnorthrun.org
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Many thanks,
Lance
Running for charity: I won my place on the Great North Run through the open ballot.
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.
