Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.
Well Sunday 31st May 2009 will live long in the memory, not because it is the last day when those from Edinburgh state "Ne'er cast a cloot until May is oot", which incidently is a lot of nonsense.......................as running in the stifling heat of 25 degrees this saying could not have been more inappropriate. In fact I would have loved to have a cast a cloot as far as I could through one on that particular day.
Having spent almost 30 years living in Edinburgh, for the majority of that time I got used to miserable weather, for pretty much 11 months of the year. In the last 3 years I have gone up there to do 2 marathons, and quite unbelievably, on both occasions the temperature reached over 27 in 2006 and 25 degrees on Sunday, with the sun beating down for the whole duration of the race . Not ideal conditions for someone who, as result of being injured, had managed just 3 runs in the last 10 weeks. I am not sure that playing football on the beach at Gullane, East Lothian, with Cameron and Jake for an hour and half on the Friday before the race was ideal preparation either.
However, here was me thinking, well, Rob you did loads of training before the injury and, provided you go round at a steady pace, nice and easy it should be fairly straightforward. I had long put to bed the idea that I could get round in sub 3 hours, so with no time target in mind, I was just looking to get round and enjoy the day. What an idiot! What a naive fool!
The Edinburgh Marathon will be etched in my memory as one of the hardest things I have ever done. From 12 miles my legs were in agony. Akin to the feeling you have the day after you have embarked on doing a form of exercise that you have not done in a long while, you know, the feeling that you can hardly manage to walk down a set of stairs. Thankfully, 14.2 miles later (still not sure how it happened as I was in a trance for the last hour of the race), I crossed the line in 3 hours 39 minutes. To picture the scene I crossed the line in Roger Bannister style, but to carry on in character, this was proceeded with me collapsing into the arms of 4 first aiders....................what a mess I was in.
I bore you with all of this because had it not been for your contribution, I would have packed up long before the finishing line. There is no way I would have put myself through it, without knowing that cancer suffers of the future will hopefully stand a better chance of surviving as a result of the money raised, so thank you once again.
As a reminder for me not to lose sight of what is really important, which is of course raising money for Bowel Cancer. Having been to visit their HQ recently for a presentation is was refreshing to establish that 80p of every £1 you donate actually goes to cancer research.
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
So please sponsor me now!
