Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page

Hi. My name is Andy which of course you all know. Before I start babbling on I'd like to thank my wife julie and son Ben for putting up with the training I'm doing and the sacrifices there making while I do it. Also to Craig Coleman the man who helped me start this journey and also to the people he's introduced me to who have and are helping me on this mid life crisis(better than a sports car) I thank you wholly and unreservedly from the bottom of my heart.On the 19/7/15 I will be taking part in an event which already has changed my life by the people I've met and the things I'm doing leading up to it. Eighteen months ago I asked a colleague who has now become a firm friend how I could get fit. That night at work I'd entered the leeds half marathon and two days after entering I'd bought a new pair of trainers and never looked back. At the time I weighed a massive 18 St and it was a struggle to get motivated. I was introduced to strava which day in and day out I saw improvements to my times. January 2014 I bought a bike and embarked on my next phase of getting fitness. With help I started plugging away at he miles be it riding or running. I did leeds half and came in at under 2 hrs which I was very proud of. My next event was leeds triathlon in sept 2014 and then york full marathon which I completed in 4 hrs 15 mins. In the months leading up to these events I'd been looking at ironman contests and thought why not. I entered Bolton and realised after I'd payed what I'd got myself into as I knew I had to learn to swim and not just the lazy way. Well it's now only 17 weeks away I've lost over 4 St  and the training is getting stepped up and I promise the swimming is getting there too. I wasn't going to raise money but St Gemma's over the years has looked after my step-mum in 2008 and at the same time as mum Brenda Whitaker who along with her husband jack I'd known since knocking on there door as an 11 year old asking to wash there car(my other family). My Aunty Susan was diagnosed in 2010 and they looked after her impeccably as along with everyone else they treat in there. Please help me raise as much as I can. All my old army friends know what a lazy bugger I was and unfit as hell but I've never been fitter and healthier than I am now and want to do my mid life crisis justice. Thank you for reading this. 

Andrew A Collings