UPDATE SUNDAY 13 FEBRUARY

Well, I did it !! Despite never having run this far for 30-odd years I managed to get round without collapsing. Unofficial time of around 54minutes which I am absolutely delighted with - never thought I'd break the hour. All your donations made a big difference, I just couldn't let you down after your support and it kept me going when the pain started after about 15 seconds.... The marshals were fantastic too, encouraging everyone in while standing in the wind and rain (yes it was a YUCK day). Never again.

ORIGINAL

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

At a drunken meal with friends before Christmas I agreed to take part in the following 10k race on 13 February http://www.valentines10k.co.uk/

 Now, for all  of you young fit people racing 10k is not a problem. But please bear in mind that;

 1 – the last time I took part in any organised running was when I was 16. That is 32 years ago, when the majority of RGA staff in London were not even born!

2 – at my last health screening I was told I did too little exercise, drank too much, ate too much and worked too much. What a surprise.

3 – I’m going to struggle to find time to buy a pair of shoes, shorts and “running vest” before 13 February,  let alone do any training.

 However, I am quite a  determined so-and-so, and I WILL complete the course and MAY even get stuck into a training regime. But to give me an incentive I’d like to spice things up a bit. Here is what I’ve put in place:

1 – to encourage me to do this, I’d like to raise some money for charity. So, I’ve set up this Justgiving page. I’ve been supporting Practical Action ever since I came across them while studying economics at university, as it achieves concrete results by concentrating on small, achievable solutions not grandiose schemes. More details at http://www.practicalaction.org/home

2 – the first twist is that I will personally match all the donations that my lovely, generous, local RGA staff donate. So, the more you donate, the more I will donate

3 – the second twist is that I will be running a sweepstake for you to guess my time. However, in order to take part in this sweepstake you have to make a minimum £5 donation on the Justgiving page. Once you’ve made your charity donation please give Polly a £1 entrance fee (pyoung@rgare.com) and give her your guessed time. The closest person to my actual time will win the whole pot.

4 – the final twist is that I will buy RGA UK staff additional sweepstake tickets for each unit of £5 donated, over and above the minimum £5 mentioned in point 3. As an example, say Fred Smith donates £15. He then needs to give £1 to Polly and chooses 3 times. I give Polly the other £2. The event has something called chip timing whatever that is, which MAY prevent me from deciding arbitrarily that Polly has won, and means that guesses of my time should be in hours, minutes and seconds). Yes hours. I really AM unfit.

So – over to you to open your wallets, and over to me to try and learn how to run!

Many thanks - and now for the blurb:

 "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.

So please dig deep and donate now."

David