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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Johanna said ...'raise £5000 for Williams Fund' <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Well, Robin and I tried, and you tried, and between us, we raised a wonderful £2108.82. You can see the picture of me finishing Austria...with William's penguin held up, I 'squeaked' him on the way to keep me going! <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">That was last year, and so with everyone's cash flow in mind, I thought ‘That's OK, we'll spread the cost’! <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">  <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">A sensitive soul in the shop commented on my Ironman Austria achievement, "Well, you're not a real Ironman until you've done Lanzarote". <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Not wanting to be an AluminiumMan after all my efforts, I signed up. <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Turns out to be "probably one of the toughest races in the world" <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">So I'm hoping that if I dig deep, you might too. <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Well, after all, how hard can the hardest Ironman be? <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">(The clue here is in rule <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">9.2 of the RUN section: No form of locomotion other than running, walking or crawling is allowed.) <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">I fell off my bike and despite thinking I'd gotten away with only bruising, ended up having major neck surgery 5 days before Christmas, followed 6 weeks later by abdominal surgery. Suitably implanted, fused (well, nearly) and stitched back together I'm nervously preparing for departure. <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: #555555; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">On Saturday 21st May, I'll be trying really, really hard Wearing Number 709 For William....and   For Brian, who's continually loved and supported me even though he thought I should stop, Ditto John, who organised my various patchings-up, Ditto the family Verrinder and Dorothy, who worry about my tri habits and For my sons Josh and Sam, who worry, period. For Paula, who simply understood the need to not give up and said 'see you on the start line!' For both surgeons (thank you - without you I wouldn't BE on the start line) For the Butla, who inspires through example,  For Jez for calling me a mad fish, which really means 'old trout', but probably means he has faith, For Kate, who's empathetically fallen over and hurt her knee (crawling's out for you then Kate!) For all my cycling buddies and BlackFish, who understand the challenge. And especially for all my ol' mates, who have not seen or heard from me for an age due to the commitment to training, and haven't judged me (see you at The Wedding) All your comments on the JustGiving site will keep me going as I.... Swim 2.4 miles in the sea, with fish and everything! Cycle 112 miles round a volcanic, windswept island Run 'barefoot' for 26.2 miles, along the beach front,  the Magnums and ice-cold lolliespast If you could just please add as much as you can for the research into childhood cancers; <strong style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Then I might be able to sit down for a bit and get on with normal things, like planning my wedding! Thank You Helen x  Something many people do not know is that the key to treatment of cancer, especially childhood cancer, lies in the diagnosis. Without that, the prognosis is poor.  William died aged 4 years and 9 months. All the profits raised by William's Fund go directly to the research programme.  We just want 2 minutes of your time, to donate £2 on this JustGiving page.  You won’t miss £2, but if everyone we know gives £2, the researchers will notice because we will hit our target!   William's Fund (which falls under the ORH Charitable Funds umbrella) has been raising monies since February 2001. In fact, Dr Mitchell, who was William's consultant is running the research programme and has no funding other than charity and no official fundraisers. All the profits raised by William's Fund go directly to the research programme. Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. .

Ten-Point IronMan Lanzarote...the challenge continues....21st May 2011

Ten-Point IronMan Lanzarote...the challenge continues....21st May 2011

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