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On the 25^th of July, I am taking part in the Lake Placid Ironman in upstate New York.

An Ironman is effectively a (very) long triathlon and invovles;

A 3.8km open water swim (in the lake they made the film about), with a mass start of 2,500 people (meaning its like being in a washing machine for the first 15mins).

Followed by a 180km bike, which is by no means flat given that Lake Placid is a ski resort.

Then finishing up with a marathon. This is where the fun and games really starts. For anyone who hasnt seen it, there is a classic clip of an ironman race for the finish here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w

 

Over the past year I have clocked up about 500hours of training and whilst not all of this training has been particularly fun; especially not the 5.30am starts, cycling in freezing rain, swimming through duck poo in the serpentine and numerous cases of cramp, bonking (that’s running out of energy half way through a ride) and blisters; it has made me realise just how lucky I am to be able to do these things. As a result I am hoping to try and raise money for the charity Starlight ; http://www.starlight.org.uk/ .

Starlight is quite a small charity (which is part of its appeal, as I know more of the money will actually go to the cause rather than admin), but it does some pretty amazing things for severely and terminally handicapped children, basically giving them the chance to do things that we would take for granted or in some cases making their wildest dreams come true. I feel that despite the year of pain that I have been through in training for this race, I am still incredibly lucky to able to even enter an Ironman (whether I finish it will be another matter) and it would be incredible to know that all this hard work will have been for a good cause.

It would be incredible if any of you would consider sponsoring me in my endeavours.

Thanks for your time :)

Rups

PS Anyone interested in following how I get on can watch the athlete tracker on www.ironman.com …. The race starts at 7am east coast time, so midday here, I am hoping to do the swim in about an hour, the bike in about 6hrs and then I guess we’ll see what I have left for the run…

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