In 2009 I ran my first Marathon in a long time. I had far too little training, and I realized early that I would not reach my goal to qualify for Boston Marathon.  I almost found it useless to even run, knowing that I would not qualify. Then it struck me. I could run for conservation. I could to a fundraiser. That year I ran in just below 4hours in 3.58h, which I was very pleased with. I was very motivated because people had made pledges and I very likely shaved several minutes having this in my head at all times. In the end I managed to raise some $1500 for Rainforest Partnership to do conservation work on the Colibri CloudForest on Satipo road. Read the story on my blog.

After a few year with injuries I am back at running. Together with Simon Mitchell of BIrdquest, we cracked the idea that more substantial fundraising could be done if all birders who are runners joined forces. So we created Run For Birds on Facebook and a Run for Birds team on JustGiving.

This is my JustGiving page. Help me to raise money for bird conservation supporting Birdlife International.

BirdLife aims to prevent the extinction of bird species by conserving key bird habitats and creating projects which sustain people's livelihoods.Birdlife seeks to maintain and where possible improve the conservation status of all bird species and where appropriate improve and enlarge sites and habitats important for bird conservation. Through this approach they seek to conserve biodiversity generally and to improve the quality of people's live.

My Pledge.

Run 42km on May 19 hopefully in less than 3.30h to qualify for Boston Marathon. I have donated already $42 dollars and will donate $100 more if I make 3:30.

Your pledge.

I hope you can make a small contribution  RIGHT NOW. Any amount counts. Then to motivate me further please make a pledge to make me run faster. The faster I run the more money for conservation.

• 10 dollars. I think this is a great cause, and will support you no matter what with 10 bucks.
• 1 dollar/min shaved off from 3.58.  You can do it Gunnar! For every minute faster you run I will donate one dollar more. Have this in your head at all times!
• 42 dollars. That’s one dollar per kilometer. You are crazy Gunnar, but you have my support for each kilometer you run.
• 100 dollars if I run faster than 3.30. Sensational, Gunnar. You qualified to Boston Marathon and I match your $100 donation to BirdLife International.

To give you an idea of the speeds involved for different finishing times here are some examples

5.00 min/km speed gives 3:30
5.15 min/km gives 3:41
5:30min/km gives 3:52
5.41  min/km gives 4 hours.
6.00 min/km gives 4h13min

Thanks for all your support. 

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.