PLEASE READ MY STORY!!!!

Thank you so much for visiting my fundraising page. This will be the 3rd marathon I will (attempt!) to complete for charity. Throughout 2012 I am completing 3 marathons for Children with Cancer: Paris, Sydney and Amsterdam. There is another site setup for donations for the Sydney and Amsterdam marathons: http://www.justgiving.com/StevieB-CombinedMarathons 

All money goes directly to Children with Cancer and makes a huge difference.

Any money donated will be doubled by my employer Barclays, so please dig deep and help this worthy cause! I shall be updating the site throughout my training.

Thanks again and I am looking forward to the pain! :)

13th Jan 2012: Training commenced at turn of the year.... mostly gym work and a little treadmill shuttle runs. Bought a Garmin watch to track my progress and to also look like I know what I am doing. Five fingers and GPS watch.... running geek

27th January 2012: Been in Belfast last few days and hospital so no training completed as of yet other than five-a-side... can't really call that training when your playing with the likes of Chris Morton, Stuart Walker and Andy Ledder.... ;) Off to the gym for an hour and will get a run in over the weekend. All good in the hood 

2nd February 2012: Good run on Monday (30th Jan), 6.5 miler, stopped off at Stuieys for a juice and chat..... they had the wedding photos out... again.... so last year. Going to run to work and back next week as found out they have shower there, so doing that a couple of days to get the mileage up! Confirming St Albans parish centre for Friday 11 May 2012 for a fundraising event. David Bond and his band and Tommy B and his band are likely to be confirmed as well hopefully! Gym tonight and circuits and run friday night. 8 more days until 2 months sobriety..... 

3rd February 2012: Fundraising event confirmed for Friday 11th May at St Albans Parish Centre, Wallasey from 7pm onwards. Training going well small run to the gym and back last night as well as sessions in gym. Off to circuits tonight for further pain....

6th February 2012: Training is being cranked up this week with a 10 mile + run thurs evening, looking forward to it :). Tracking progress with GPS watch, which has come in handy for judging pace and mileage. Gym work, short run and badminton to keep me ticking over this evening.

7th Feb 2012: A close call with Suzi in badminton last night but took the game 4-1 :) she is good!! Nice early morning run this morning with Max, he looked keen at the beginning....... And then a bike across the wirral (pretty much) thanks Merseyrail :(. Training coming along nicely, aiming for around about 20 miles this week in total running wise. On top of that will have 5 a side and gym work so getting into shape. After the weekend I will be saying goodbye to my good friend alcohol for two months, with the Newcastle lot- should be good fun :)  

13th Feb 2012: The first day of sobriety and going well..... its only 11.45am tho.... What a weekend with the lads from toon, had a class time, drunk to much and was a witness to some unbelievable dance moves from robo. Back to training tonight, gym work and light run.

18th Feb 2012: What a week! Have been hella ill! first gym session this week after being off work all week through illness- it has not been pretty! A lot better now though, gentle run planned for tomorrow to get back in the swing of it after the week off. Thank you very much to H, Chet and Uncle Chris for their kind donations! :) 

20th Feb 2012: Good 9 miler yesterday so back in the game! See the route at: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152153167. Circuits and badminton tonight, so going to be a long day. First day back at work after lask weeks illness, feeling a lot better than last week! Plan this week is for around about 30 miles altogether, one long run- approx 14 miles and the rest shorter. The first week of sobriety has gone well, even in Liverpool on sat night it wasnt bad! Got the Liverpool half marathon at end of March so aiming for around 1 hour 30- 40 in that. Thanks to everyone who has supported me so far, if you need any more information on the charity their website is: http://www.childrenwithcancer.org.uk/

21st Feb 2012: Hard work last night at circuits, gym and badminton. Mummy  and Tommy B played baddy last night, was impressed with them! Some good advice for you... never use BIC razors... not if you value your face. Going on a run tonight, prob run for an hour and a half and see how far a get.

22nd Feb 2012: 8.5 miler completed last night in around about 1.02 mins. See the route at: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152153157

Still got a bit of work to do to make sure give the half marathon my best shot! :) Gym and five a side tonight, then off to Suzannes for my tea. Stay safe

24th Feb 2012: Good week so far run/exercise wise. Circuits and run to Suzis tonight so will increase the mileage a bit more. Badminton tomorrow and a long run on Sunday. Will make sure I hit the 30 mile + mark for the week. Two weeks Sunday will be without alcohol, going to be difficult watching the cup final without a drink! :)

26th Feb 2012: Good (lucky) win for the reds.... had a good weekend of badminton and 10 miles worth of running. So all good, details @:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152949004

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152949041

Just under 22 miles completed last week, so going to increase it this week to try and hit 30 miles. 

29th Feb 2012: Completed 12.6 miler last night, after which went to gym and a fun swim with Mummy B! Feet are sore today but was happy with run and decent time, if your interested you can see details @:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/153439200

A big thank you to Graham and Lisa for their kind donation! ;)

1st Mar 2012: The curse of shin splints has struck! Played five a side last night and was in agony! Couple of days off running wise I think is needed....

2nd Mar 2012: Gym work yesterday.... gym, circuits and badminton tonight. Next run will be on Sunday, to give my shins a good rest!

5th Mar 2012: Weekend was good fun as went to Go Ape with Suzi! Managed to get into the gym Sunday night for 40 or so mins but other than that not much training completed. Off to gym and circuits tonight so will be hard work! 6 weeks yesterday till Paris marathon so carrying on with prep :).... it is also 6 weeks till my next alcoholic drink..... not that am counting or anything.

8th Mar 2012: Had xray on foot tues night, no breaks but have tendonitis! So got to lay off running for 5-7 days....The Liverpool half marathon is a week on Sunday, so should still be fine for that. Just means a wont be able to get as much prep in before. Just be hitting the gym for the next few days.  Other than the foot, training going well!

12th Mar 2012: Foot a lot better following a weekend of no running. Did a lot of gym work, trixter class and got a game of badminton in there as well! The half marathon is on Sunday, so looking forward to that with Cliff. Photos and videos will be posted up after Sunday. Had the dress down day in work changed to Friday 30th March so having to sort that out as was originally not meant to be till May. Should raise a fair amount then. Really hitting the training now! Only short runs this week before Sunday.

16th Mar 2012: Been working hard all week, revolvutions, trixter and circuits all done this week. Another set of circuits tonight and then badminton tomorrow and light jog in the morning. Liverpool half marathon on Sunday at 9.30am, photos/videos to follow :)

19th Mar 2012: Liverpool half completed yesterday in just over 1 hour 34, details at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/159297536. Thanks to all who have donated so far, very sore today but all good prep for Paris. Was a decent run and was happy with time and how I felt. Was 4 weeks to go yesterday for Paris, so going to be able to get one more long run in within the next week and a half and then a tapering off before the 15th April :) 

27th Mar 2012: Plenty of training completed over the last week. Not much running just swimming, circuits etc. Dress down day at work on fri so looking forward to that! :) This will help in hitting my fundraising target

28th Mar 2012: A big thank you to Andy Ledder for his kind donation, as you are now married my thanks extends to Nicky as well. 

3rd Apr 2012: Had dress down day on Friday 30th, went really well and raised just under £1300! Some of which may be able to get doubled! :) Final figure will be ready in next few weeks so will update once know! Still training hard this week, a week on Sunday and its marathon time! :) Looking forward to the first one of the year. Thank you to Molly for his contribution.

4th Apr 2012: Thank you very much Mummy B for your donation!! I am a very proud son! Getting cheque from Barclays from dress down day so will update figures on here once everything confirmed. It will make a big difference! Boxercise tonight after a long day at work, in 10-8.

9th Apr 2012: Little 3.5 miler yesterday to get me prepared for Sunday. Going to have another couple of little runs throughout this week before big one! :) Thanks to Scotty for his donation! ;), its a big help! Off to Paris on Fri woowoo!

12th Apr 2012: Last update before the marathon as off to Paris 2m. Feeling good, been doing trixter gym and boxercise this week so keeping up cardio. No injuries or niggles so will be fine for Sunday- if i can find the start that is.... should be fine will just follow the 40000 other people in vests. Looking forward to a well deserved pint on Sunday :)

18th Apr 2012: Finished the marathon in 3.58, which is a personal best by about 4 mins! :) was aiming for a bit quicker but severe cramp set in after mile 16/17. Please donate if you can spare anything for this worthy cause, thanks!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/171351097