Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Yes - this is for real!

Partly due to mid-life crisis and partly inspired by the likes of Eddie Izzard, I'll be running the Edinburgh Marathon on May 22nd 2011!

At time of writing, I haven't run more than 10k in my life and that was for "Run the World" in 1986 to the sounds of Tears for Fears.  That was shortly before I discovered beer...

I'll be running in aid of SADS which is affiliated with the British Heart Foundation and saves lives through provision of medical equipment and education.

More info here: http://www.sads.org.uk/

This is particularly important to me as I lost a very dear friend (Sarah - pictured) in June 2009 when her heart simply stopped in her sleep, aged 37.  She left her partner and 3 young boys devastated.  A mutual friend wrote a newspaper article on her which was later used by the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11542429

Sarah lived her life with unrivaled determination and didn't see why she couldn't achieve anything she put her mind to.  Mainly, it's her inspiration which will get me across the finish line, even if it takes all day (which is possible)!

In the unlikely event I reach my donation target of £1000, I'll run the marathon wearing the pink lycra leopard-print strides I bought in 1989 for my rock-band gigs!

Thanks so much for reading and all donations big and small are gratefully appreciated.

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.

Thank you!
Paul 

 

Update: 25/4/11

Less than 4 weeks to go and due to injury and further injury (through idiocy) I've missed 6 weeks valuable training.

Stubbornness and possibly stupidity prevail however and I'm determined to cross the finish line.  To date my longest run has been 10 miles.

To add donation incentive, I've uploaded a picture of the 1980's rockstar leggings I will wear if I hit my £1000 target!

Thanks again!

Paul

 

Update 16/5/11

5 days to go!  My musicians "training" plan is over.  Bizarrely did OK on my longest run of 16 miles so I'm fairly confident of finishing before the sweeper vehicle tells me to get off the road.

What a journey so far - torn ligaments, bruised ankle, bruised knee, posterior-tibial tendonitis, a dislocated rib and visits to physio, podiatrist, osteopath and masseuse and finally I'm good to go.

Nearly at my target so if you want photos of me in the pink lycra, now's the time to dig deep!

Thanks so much to all who have donated - I'm actually overwhelmed at how much this folly has raised.