Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Ive been running now for just over 2.5 years. I weighed over 19 stone and myself and 3 other friends decided running would be a good way to lose the excess timber! As an incentive 2 years ago we entered the Edinburgh hairy haggis relay, in the process I lost 5 stone and we lost over 12 stone between us.

After this adventure I caught the running bug, and this year I have entered the big one, the London Marathon. As this is the first and last time I will run the London marathon I decided it would be wonderful to make all my blood, sweat and tears go to a great cause.

My next door neighbour George Jackson is a 11 year old sports mad boy, into cricket, football and other sports and a supporter of Huddersfield and Liverpool. Last year he was diagnosed with leukemia. Over this period he has had wonderful support from his family, friends, Hinchcliffe Mill School, St. James's Hospital and Candlelighters. Candlelighters are based in Jimmy's in Leeds and do a fantastic job of supporting children suffering from malignant diseases or severe blood diseases in the area. They have helped George greatly during his long stints in hospital.

I am putting a great deal of effort into the London marathon, with a hectic 14 week training schedule: training 6 days a week, covering over 660 miles in total, peaking at 65 miles in 1 week alone and getting up at 5.30am to train some mornings. I aim to complete the 26.2 miles of the marathon in around 4 hours. However my efforts pale into insignificance when compared to what the many children treated at Jimmy's that candlelighters support go through.

Please dig deep and support a wonderful cause. 

Many thanks

Charles Crossland

 

Who are candlelighters?

We are a group of parents of children treated at the Yorkshire paediatric oncology and haematology Unit at St. James's Hospital in Leeds who are suffering from malignant diseases or severe blood diseases

Supported by relatives, friends, medical and nursing staff we are dedicated to combatting childhood cancer, leukaemia and serious blood disorders and to making the lives of the children and their families more bearable.

What do Candlelighters do?

Candlelighters raise money for toys, books, caravan/chalet holidays, laboratory research, medical equipment and additional staff for the Unit above that which the NHS provides.

For more information or if you would like to help please go to the Candlighters website.

How to donate

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.

You can sponsor me via any major credit or debit card, via Paypal, or if you are uncomfortable using online services I have a paper sponsor form which you can ask for.

So please dig deep and donate now.

 

Training Update

The training has been going really well. A new 10k PB at Dewsbury 10k of 48mins 28 seconds and a fastest 18mile training run of 2hrs 46mins.

 

Running week ending Sat 13th March saw the most miles run so far in one week at 63miles.

Sunday 28th March saw my best and longest run to date, 21.5 miles in 3hrs 10mins which isa couple of minutes under 4 hour marathon pace which is excellent.

Nearly there now, last big week before the tapering starts. Saturday is my final long long run with a 22 miler.

If all goes well that brings to a close my longest week so far with 70 miles. Im hoping for another good performance to give me a boost. Im amazed at everyones generosity, many thanks to everyone who has donated, it means a great deal to me, George and candllighters.

George even made the Huddersfield Daily Examiner front page which can be seen online here.

Training done, Im as prepared as I could be! It looks like a hot day Sunday, possibly the second hotest London Marathon on record, but I will give everything I have and some on race day. My aim is to run sub 4 hours which should bring me in the top third. Well here goes!