Ok, so here’s the deal. 

When I was a kid my dad gave me two pieces of advice. “Never run in public” and “don’t drink water because fish f**k in it”.  These pieces of advice have stood me in good stead over the years. Sure I have missed buses, and lost occasional days, but other than that in a world where the old certainties of god and state have been swept away, these were two truths that I could hold on to.

Breaking these rules never crossed my mind… well why would anyone break those rules. They are sensible. You may as well say “I am going to live underwater” or “I am off to see Mumford and Sons play live”. Unthinkable. Runs counter to reason and logic. 

So if I am going to break those rules you need to make it worth my while. Breaking one would be bad enough, but blow me if it doesn’t turn out that the two are related. If you run you end up drinking water too. 

I am going to run 10k. To many of you that won’t seem that far. But if you had what I had it would. (I have a history of not exercising, a liking for crisps and the gait of a slapstick comedian from the golden age). So 10k seems like an impossible distance.

And I’ll level with you. I have never ever run that far before. It might be dangerous. My legs might fall off. So I am taking a risk here. It’s in Leeds too, so there is a secondary risk that people I might know will see me and laugh and point.

And why am I taking such a risk?

It is because I want to support a fantastic charity called SOS Children’s Villages which cares for children who cannot live with their biological parents in some of the world’s poorest places – often orphaned by AIDS or conflict. 

SOS Children’s Villages working model is very simple:

They take groups of seven to ten (less in the developed world) children alone and put them together with a permanent resident SOS mother to make a family for life

•They group a dozen or so SOS families like this together in a Village and then work out from this centre to try to help the wider community with the facilities needed

•If there is no adequate medical care, they provide it

•If there is no school, they build one

•If there are families on the edge nearby (child headed families etc), they support them.

 

Their strategic goal for the next eight years is to give a million children a family for life. 

You can sponsor me to run or you could visit their website and sponsor a child.