28 October

We did it! It was raining in the early morning and getting to the start was not that easy, but it dried out as the run started and, five dual carriageway underpasses later, we made to the across the finish line in Centenary square! I made 1 hour 53, my personal best, Ben did 1 hour 46 and Heike 2 hours 20, both first timers! Well done us and thank you to everyone who supported us especially my wife and daughter who had to put up with my schedule for the last six months! We have between us raised over £1500 - thank you to our sponsors!

23 October

The team (Heike, speedy Ben and me) had our last group training run together around the park - an easy 3 miles! When I think that when we started in March, Heike was doing 2 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, Ben had done nothing and I had done only about 3 hours total running since the previous October. We have really trained well, all of us are looking thinner, stronger and more healthy and we are ready for action! Thanks to all the people have supported us and all the people who are just about to!

13th October

I did it! Well, the first bit of it - I finished the Royal Parks Half Marathon in Hyde park on Sunday. A very beautiful course, running through Hyde park, St James' park and Green park, past the Palace (with lots of tourists looking at us), past Westminster, over the bridge and back, along Embankment and back into Hyde park for the last 7 1/2 miles (!). It was a really perfect sunny day with very little wind and the support and organisation was the best I have seen. Having had two weeks off sick really did not help me though. I started out slow - and got slower and slower. I wanted to stop and walk a couple of times, but the race support guys were cheering us on, so I kept going. This was certainly the hardest race I have ever done and I am very proud to have got around the whole course without stopping, in about 2 hours and twenty minutes! Now I have to rest and prepare for the last race - the Birmingham half marathon on the 26th of October. Wish me luck and good preparation, and thank you for your support for me and your financial support for the poor families in SA who really benefit from our help - it only costs about £3000 to build a permanent house for an orphan family!

6 October

I still have a cold. Beautiful running weather as well. But thank you to all my generous donors so far! I am sure that I will be better by Wednesday - I can feel it! kind regards, Paul

2 October

Look at the date! I am running 13.1 miles in ten days!! AAAAAAHHH! And I have a cold! I had to miss the 10K I was supposed to do on Sunday and speedy Ben did 49:47 curse his slapping feet! But I did find out that his brother's nickname for him is "big nose". Just felt the need to share that with you.

Thanks to all those good people who have reached in to their pockets and sponsored me, thank you people. Let's hope I will be on that plane to SA to help out soon. Actually the biggest help is the money - it pays for construction materials for permanent, low cost dwellings for people who at the moment have to survive without.

22 September

Finally I have got out the credit card an purchased some new trainers (last Saturday) and I have done five runs in them so far. It is like starting all over again! I have aches in my feet and abdomen as I try to wobble through my stride on shoes that lack the benefit of being crushed by my feet for seven years. Hopefully they will break in soon, and I will get stronger again. I have been reigning the miles in a bit this week as I have a "warm up" 10k race on Sunday and, curse my luck, slacker Ben is running it too! That is former Slacker Ben, now Speedy Ben "I had a great run at the weekend - nine miles!". I have told him to aim for 50 minutes on Sunday - that should knacker him out!

8 september

Yesterday did a very long run around the canals of Birmingham. Took wrong turn at Bordersley junction and ended up running a bit further than I had hoped. Last weeks training was altogether a bit too hard! I have a "warm up" 10k race on 28 September and I must be getting a bit too excited!

There will be a paper form for people to fill in as well, I will try to keep track of this on the web page as well.

1 September

My work place is supporting Habitat for Humanity to help fund and construct very low cost housing in really badly deprived communities in South Africa. Some of our staff are taking short trips out there to build and learn.

In order to help raise some funds for this, I am running the Birmingham half marathon on 26th October (not long now) with two colleagues, Heike and Ben. As if this is not enough, I have also secured a place in the Royal Parks half marathon two weeks before, so I will be running 13 miles twice in a fortnight! Yipee!

If you feel compelled to make a small or large donation, please leave a little message!

Paul

22 August, from the office

Stephen George and Partners together with their staff are attempting to raise £100,000 per year for the next 3 years to assist Habitat for Humanity in the building of new homes for HIV/AIDS orphans.  Each year they will also sending two teams of volunteers to go over and help actually build them. 

The second team will be leaving for Eshowe in October 2008.

As an added fundraising incentive, Stephen George and Partners are going to double up all donations received this year, up to a total contribution of £20,000.  Therefore the £500 I hopefully raise will become £1000 in actual money received by the charity !  For details of the central Stephen George and Partners fund, go to http://www.justgiving.com/stephengeorge-respect.  This shows the total raised so far including my contribution, plus Stephen George and Partners.

Please remember that whilst £500 is my minimum target I hope to raise a lot more for this worthy cause. Well, lets see how we get on for now.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. If you are a taxpayer, please tick the box so that we can claim an extra 28% in tax at no cost to you.

Many thanks for your support we really appreciate it.  Keep checking the site for updates and pictures!

Thanks for you kind help

Stephen George and Partners - Respect fundraising number - 087GBC79