Story
<p>Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I've reached the age where I think running a Marathon is a good idea, and have chosen one of the biggest marathon's there is - London in April 2011.</p>
<p>This will be <strong>my first ever Marathon </strong>and I've set myself a tough target of running <strong>under 3hrs 15mins</strong>, this is considered to be "good for age". The average finish time for a man is approximately 4hrs 20mins and I'm currently running 50-60 miles a week in training to prepare.</p>
<p><strong>I will be paying for all of my own expenses </strong>and all money donated will go directly to charity.</p>
<p>I'm really pleased to be raising funds for <a title="Support Dogs" href="http://www.support-dogs.org.uk" target="_blank">Support Dogs</a>, a fantastic <span style="font-family: Calibri;"> UK charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with epilepsy, physical disabilities and children with autism by training dogs to act as efficient and safe assistants.</span> <span style="font-family: Calibri; color: #000000;">The dogs are trained to assist and support their owners with their specific disability. Each dog is taught tasks tailored to his owner's needs, enabling the disabled person to lead a fuller and more independent life.<br /></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a fantastic charity which has already helped one of our local Eccleshall children.</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">Esme who is 11 years old has uncontrolled epilepsy due to a catastrophic illness when she was only 18 months old. Her support dog Meara, a yellow Labrador, is trained to alert Esmes' mum (Caroline) when a seizure occurs. This can be up to eight times a day. This enables medical help to reach Esme much quicker.</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">The dog is Esme's constant companion, resulting in the child being calmer and sleeping a lot better with Meara in her room. As a registered Support Dog, Meara can accompany Esme when she goes to the shops or any area dogs are not normally allowed. Esme has become a happier child with Meara by her side.</span></span></p>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>So please dig deep and donate whatever you can now.</p>