Dear Friends,

On 11 October I'm running a half marathon (yes all 13 miles (21 kilometers) of it) through the Royal Parks of London -- Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James Park.  I'm running in support of Right to Play, an inspiring athlete-driven international humanitarian organisation that uses sport and play as a tool for development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world. 

Right To Play aims to improve the lives of children affected by poverty, war and disease. They work closely with communities to set up sport and play programmes designed to teach important skills including leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, self-esteem, communication, commitment, respect and fair-play.  The network and infrastructure that they set up enable local communities to take ownership of the programmes, leaving a long lasting impact.

I've pledged to raise a minimum of 500 GBP for Right to Play, though I'd love to raise much more for this great cause!  If you'd like to support my effort, the easiest way to do so is to donate through JustGiving, its 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.

To give you an idea of what your money supports:

£20 = Regular, weekly sport and play activity for one child for one year

£160 = Training for one coach in Right To Play resources

£5,600 = Refurbishment of one play space

So please dig deep and donate now.  And please remember every bit helps!

I'll be updating this page regularly with news of my training progress, so please come back and visit regularly! 

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your support!

Nili

For more information on Right to Play, check out http://www.righttoplay.org.uk

For details on the Royal Parks Half Marathon, check out http://www.royalparkshalf.com/

Training progress:

Sunday 06/09/09 - Today I ran for an hour and a half from where I live in East Dulwich, up College Road, to Crystal Palace Park and then down Sydenham Hill, down Lordship lane, accross Dulwich park and back home again.  I'm currently a bit slower than a 10 minute mile, so I figure I ran about 8.5 miles nonstop!  If you add an other 4.5 miles, I would've run the whole half-marathon.  That's great news because it means that I'm on track to achieve my goal of completing the half marathon on 11/10/09.  Now all I need to do is speed up a bit.  Ideally I'd like to finish it in 2 hours flat!  But I'm having trouble keeping a steady pace, I tend to go too fast at the outset and then slow down over the course of the run and speed up again at the end.  I'll be doing some pace work this week, wish me luck!

Friday 18/09/09 - Wow!  Thank you all so much for the very generous donations you've given to this cause and for sponsoring me.  Thanks to your efforts, we've exceeeded the original fundraising goal, which is super exciting!  The training is coming along very well.  I'm getting more time on my feet and feeling more and more comfortable running at a faster pace.  Aside from a hicup of a few days where Easy Jet lost my luggage, along with my running shoes, I've been training rather regularly and am hoping to manage to break the 10 minute mile barrier on this Sunday's long run.  Wish me luck!