Thanks for visiting my fundraising page and now that you're here, please don't navigate away; click through and sponsor me.  Recent events in Burma and China have highlighted the importance of work done by charities that help people in crisis.  By donating to the British Red Cross, you will save lives.

For those of less philanthropic and more sadistic nature, focus instead on the notion of my experiencing four hours of agony around the streets of New York; I'll supply you with pictures afterwards if you like.

Either way, folks, please dig deep.

al

ps: don't forget to gift aid - it costs you nothing and boosts the fundraising quite significantly.

4 November

So, 4hrs, 19 mins and 4 secs is my official time.  A fair bit outside my PB but not my worst and given the mishaps in training and the difficulties posed by the New York course, I can’t complain.

The crowds of the Big Apple were amazing, the weather beautiful and for about 17 miles, I was having the time of my life, lapping up the atmosphere of the five boroughs.  Then the hell that is Queensboro bridge kicked in, resulting in a worrying back pain.  This was quickly followed my hurtling slap bang into the biggest Wall I’ve hit yet in my marathon experience: my limbs increasingly felt like lead and the burning ache spread to every muscle.  Added to this, my right hamstring almost went completely and I had to stop and stretch the life out of it before I could carry on running.  

But carry on I did… and despite the plummeting split times, I got through the worst and by the time I hit Central Park, all was well(ish) again.  The support here was incredible: New Yorkers in their thousands screaming us on to the finish, picking up strugglers and willing them forwards.  Forwards to the glorious, glorious finish and that feeling that made me think that, after all, perhaps I will do another one... not anytime soon, though.

For now, a big thank you to everyone for your support and your sponsorship money.  The fundraising site will be open for another couple of weeks, so if anyone hasn’t donated yet, please do so – I’m just a few hundred short of my target now.

3 October

With just four weeks to go until the race, I am £355 short of the minimum fundraising target, so if you’ve been putting it off, please do so now. 

As for training, the recovery from injury has continued and I’m now very confident of getting round the 26.2 miles without any great distress.  The original goal of under 4 hours may be a little out of reach but we’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve booked my flight and a room in the Harlem YMCA (to clarify for those who have asked, none of my additional expenses are covered by the charity – all your money goes to them) and I’m off to buy a pair of new trainers this afternoon. 

So, all that remains is for me to thank you for your support during training and mention that any recommendations for sightseeing in NYC are gratefully received… as well as venues for getting horrendously drunk in after the run.

18 September

And… relax. I’m pretty much back on track. I’ve taken the somewhat drastic step of moving to Sweden in order to take advantage of the somewhat draconian alcohol laws and thus render my abstinence from the good stuff a mite easier.

Happily, the good folk of Gothenburg are quite health conscious, so there is a wealth of running routes available on t’Internet and even some dedicated off-road tracks out of town, with helpful distance markers. This weekend, I took a 16-mile route, taking in most of the town centre and crossing the main waterway over a couple of gargantuan bridges. Monday morning wasn’t too troublesome for my legs, so it seems the mountain exploits may have been worth it after all – the altitude has done wonders for my general fitness.

To the less positive news that I still need a lot of help with fundraising. With just six and a bit weeks to go until the race, I’m short several hundred squids. So, if you can find it in your wallet/heart to sponsor me, I’d much appreciate it. Or, if you want to pass on the link to any generous souls you know, please feel free.

4 July Update

I’ve decided to update these pages with tales of training… and other random stuff because every now and then, talking about running just isn’t that interesting.  Many of you will be scoffing and choking on your afternoon scone/coffee at that statement but tis true.

So, this month my training has been decidedly intermittent.  Many good intentions have been harboured, with admittedly little conversion into actual running.  Laura Jane (also running NY) and I joined a running club, as recommended by her flatmate – nice guy, taught me the sign language for ‘premature ejaculation’ – and successfully attend one run.  The slow one.  The leader of which told me they don’t usually have blokes in it.  In my defence, I would point out that I found it quite easy and shall be taking the opportunity to try one of the more challenging groups in the future.

I also went to Glastonbury, where I didn’t run as such, but I did walk a lot; it’s a big place.

For those of you concerned about this apparent lack of progress, rest assured that my training is set to pick up quite dramatically, when I jet off to for three weeks.  In addition to the daily runs in stifling temperatures, I’m seriously considering climbing Kilimanjaro for a bit of hill/altitude training.