Andrew Kilroy
Fighting Fatness' Virtual UK Run - 1407km in 365 Days
Fundraising for SpecialEffect
Story
Hi, thanks for your time :) From the 1st of May I plan to run, in a year, 1407km. This is the distance from Lands End to John O'Groats. As I can't run the real route, I plan to spend the year running 30km a week, but also visiting areas of the UK on the Lands end route and running sections as and when I can. This may be from a town to another or along a famous section of road.
I want to use my running to raise money for an amazing charity called Special Effect. In a nutshell, Special Effect create custom video game controllers to allow disabled children and adults to play video games with friends and family. This video about a cool young lad called Ben summarises exactly the kind of good work they do.
https://youtu.be/5uhsUKFDiso
I've been a huge video game player since I was a child, and it's something I've taken for granted my whole life. I heard about Special Effect a year ago and it made me so happy to see that they were making sure gaming is totally inclusive!
So why am I doing it?
As you may or may not know, I decided to start running on the 24th January 2017 on a couch to 5K program. I had been overweight for many years and wanted to use running as a way to lose weight. I started a blog at fightingfatness.com to document my journey and hopefully inspire others to try for themselves.
After 7 weeks I had hit my first 5K distance and since then I have been running further and further, the longest so far has been 14K in one go.
It has been 12 weeks since I started running and have already lost 14lbs, but with much more left to go. I had been looking at entering runs to train towards, but it started to feel that this was all now just benefiting me and I wanted to use my new hobby for some good.
I was looking for a year-long goal that I would be a challenge and stumbled across a story of a team running the John O'Groats to Lands End route. The distance is 1407K and spans the length of mainland UK. I decided this would be the distance I would run, set a year to hit the distance and raise money for a really worthy cause along the way. I'm hoping that the more weight I lose, the fitter I become and the further I can run as I need to average 32K every week for 52 weeks. I'll be running around my local area, but plan to try and run actual stints of the real distance from town to town to experience what it would be like. Maybe one day I can do it for real.
I want to try and raise £1 for every Kilometer I'm going to run over the next year, with the aim to hit £1407 (and maybe beyond). I'll update every week talking about the distances I run and plot on a map how far I would have got if running the actual route.
The charity I picked is Special Effect.
SpecialEffect enable severely disabled people to use computers in any way possible – using whichever part(s) of their body that work best - by adapting technology to their individual needs. It’s so important they can join in with family/friends, to be included and not left out. This can hugely benefit rehabilitation, mental wellbeing, self-esteem and quality of life – and much needed FUN!
Creating custom controllers Special Effect allow disabled children to play video games with friends and family and allow them to experience these virtual worlds that most of us take for granted.
They specialise in Eye Control Technology. Imagine: You wake up after an accident. You can’t move anything except your eyes. And you can’t speak. Through eye-movement alone, we help people operate a computer so they can communicate and regain a little independence - giving them a voice when they don’t have one of their own.
I really hope you can donate to help this great cause!
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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
I want to use my running to raise money for an amazing charity called Special Effect. In a nutshell, Special Effect create custom video game controllers to allow disabled children and adults to play video games with friends and family. This video about a cool young lad called Ben summarises exactly the kind of good work they do.
https://youtu.be/5uhsUKFDiso
I've been a huge video game player since I was a child, and it's something I've taken for granted my whole life. I heard about Special Effect a year ago and it made me so happy to see that they were making sure gaming is totally inclusive!
So why am I doing it?
As you may or may not know, I decided to start running on the 24th January 2017 on a couch to 5K program. I had been overweight for many years and wanted to use running as a way to lose weight. I started a blog at fightingfatness.com to document my journey and hopefully inspire others to try for themselves.
After 7 weeks I had hit my first 5K distance and since then I have been running further and further, the longest so far has been 14K in one go.
It has been 12 weeks since I started running and have already lost 14lbs, but with much more left to go. I had been looking at entering runs to train towards, but it started to feel that this was all now just benefiting me and I wanted to use my new hobby for some good.
I was looking for a year-long goal that I would be a challenge and stumbled across a story of a team running the John O'Groats to Lands End route. The distance is 1407K and spans the length of mainland UK. I decided this would be the distance I would run, set a year to hit the distance and raise money for a really worthy cause along the way. I'm hoping that the more weight I lose, the fitter I become and the further I can run as I need to average 32K every week for 52 weeks. I'll be running around my local area, but plan to try and run actual stints of the real distance from town to town to experience what it would be like. Maybe one day I can do it for real.
I want to try and raise £1 for every Kilometer I'm going to run over the next year, with the aim to hit £1407 (and maybe beyond). I'll update every week talking about the distances I run and plot on a map how far I would have got if running the actual route.
The charity I picked is Special Effect.
SpecialEffect enable severely disabled people to use computers in any way possible – using whichever part(s) of their body that work best - by adapting technology to their individual needs. It’s so important they can join in with family/friends, to be included and not left out. This can hugely benefit rehabilitation, mental wellbeing, self-esteem and quality of life – and much needed FUN!
Creating custom controllers Special Effect allow disabled children to play video games with friends and family and allow them to experience these virtual worlds that most of us take for granted.
They specialise in Eye Control Technology. Imagine: You wake up after an accident. You can’t move anything except your eyes. And you can’t speak. Through eye-movement alone, we help people operate a computer so they can communicate and regain a little independence - giving them a voice when they don’t have one of their own.
I really hope you can donate to help this great cause!
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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.