Several years of running for charity has taken in a number of charities: from leading cancer charity Cancer Research to National Ashma Campaign; from research into Altzheimers primarily for the aged to sports equipment for physically challenged young people; and all of these are great causes. Sometimes the drive to continue running or sending emails comes more from the personal though - here is the text of an email from 2005 seeking support for some good causes:
"In 2001 a small number of you sponsored me for running 3.5 miles (seemed like a marathon then!) and together we raised £3000 for charity; a year later it was 39 miles while I was still 39 and together we braved shin splits to reach £8000 for charity; in 2003 I could still run 39 miles even though I was over 40 and together we benefited charity to the tune of over £10,000; in 2004....well, nothing really, but I was a bit tired from the previous 3 years.
In 2005, could we raise some more for charity?As always here is the short version for those with more important things to do (with the longer version for those hoping I might write something funny afterwards):
Short Version:
I am running 3 half marathons: the St. Albans half marathon this Sunday, the Great Scottish Run and the Great North Run (both in September). I am doing so for charity and hope you will pledge to support me. The charities I am running for are Cancer Research UK, GetKidsGoing and Oops Play scheme.What you have to do, if you are willing to support, is e-mail me back with the amount you are prepared to pledge if the old bones get me to the end of the challenge successfully. The first race is this weekend, the last in September. I will seek to collect after the last race. The charities are all good causes (details in the longer version below), please support me to support them.I will send updates periodically but they will have the same heading "Running for Charity 2005" and will have a short update and a longer one for those more interested in the detail.
Longer Version:
Three things that are hard to do in relation to these charity runs: choosing a charity, training and running the races themselves, oh and collecting the money. So, four really. This time choosing the charities has been nearly as difficult as doing the minimal amount of training that I have managed. The Tsunami appeals rightly have had huge attention, while famine in Africa is currently in the news with the upcoming G8 conference in Scotland. One could stop at either of those. I might have done if events closer to home (or office) had not intervened.One of my daughter's best friends mum has been diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been caught early and she is undergoing the usual challenging treatment and side effects which makes running a half marathon with too little training look a good option if you were able to choose. At my daughter's birthday party earlier this year I caught myself looking at my daughter's friend and wondering where their story will end. And that is the thing with cancer, it is still so common we all have a story about someone close or relatively close who has been affected. I would be exaggerating to say I have been close to Kylie (Minogue) (it was only a recurring fantasy) but celebrity is no escape. I am hoping that it will be our pennies from my efforts that help tip the balance towards gaining some control.
The other two charities are for young people with physical disabilities (probably not the politically correct way of saying this now). GetKidsGoing provide sports equipment which allows "handicapped" young people to become serious athletes. The sports wheelchairs that the young people use cost around £3000 and there is much other equipment required. Some of those who have been lucky enough to enjoy support from GetKidsGoing have reached international standards at Paralympics and similar events. Not only do properly equipped young people compete in events like the Great North Run but, perhaps unsurprisingly, they would leave me and my beer belly waddling in their wake. And the alternative would be...a much less attractive life.
Finally, one of the lawyers in our finance team has a profoundly handicapped (oops, there is that word again) son. His quality of life is already severely challenged by his physical and mental limitations. The lawyer brought in a little booklet of the play group her son attends during the summer. It is clear from the pictures that organising and running (no pun intended) such a group for a number of such children beats anything most of us do in our every day lives. One to one care is needed, some children need oxygen and specialist equipment is needed for the children to do simple things like scribble on paper. The other striking feature from the booklet is the children's obvious enjoyment. The play group that provides the care is threatened with closure because of lack of funds. I am sure there are many other similar stories elsewhere but I know about this one and if you are prepared to I would like to try and offer our help through this sponsored running challenge to my colleague, her son and the other children who enjoy that play group.
On a lighter note, as usual training has been blighted by a number of factors including reluctance to move from a sitting position, mildly colder than expected weather, laziness, sport on TV, over-powering attraction to beer and smoky atmospheres and the other inhibiting factors that make the daily lives of us finely honed athlete so troublesome. Occasional relief has been had (you will be pleased to hear) with a recent venture over 10k after less than 3 hours sleep due to a previous karaoke engagement being the highlight. Liquid carbo-loading and tough endurance training of this type should see me right on the day...at least to nearly half way!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
An Old Post Related to Training in San Diego
One from the past:
Sent: Wednesday, 21 November, 2007 6:56:39 PMSubject: More, More, More... 50 miles for charity
I did the old brutal running challenge thing (a few weeks ago now and I am nearly recovered) and many of you have sponsored me. Quite a few have not....which is ok if you don't want to. Not like I can make you or anything. I would just say 50 miles was pretty tough for a man of my advancing age and condition and it was for good causes, but it is up to you. However, quite a few people do want to (or so they have said) and have not. In fact, wherever I go (even sad, wet Hampden on Saturday (by the way good luck Northern Ireland and England tonight)) someone says "oh I must give you something for your running". When it was the doctor I started to get worried. Anyway now's the time, now's the hour. Your big chance to pay up. Next mail I may name and shame those who have promised but not delivered...but then again I won't really but I like sounding tough.
Cheques payable to "Orbis" or "Cancer Research" (you choose) can be sent to me at Paul Hastings 10 Bishops Square Eighth Floor London E1 6EG;
or donate through these pages www.orbis.org.uk/KeithWilson or http://www.justgiving.com/keith50miles2007
if the hyperlinks don't work by clicking on them then copy and paste them into your browser or ask a younger person for help.
I reckon that if everyone who has said they will does then we will top £7000 (and that is before my fine and generous partner Jon Simpson (i/c charity budget) decides the handsome Paul Hastings donation). To those who have, many thanks. To those who have not yet, thanks in anticipation.
Some of you like some chat. Here is one I started a couple of week ago (and there is another one (the "spiked one") that I deemed unsuitable for publication under the Paul Hastings name - but I may be prepared to share it from my home email if personally requested by email with evidence of a charitable donation and a disclaimer (ever the lawyer).
The Great North Run, the final piece in the jigsaw of 50 miles, was relatively uneventful for me. It involved a lot of running - about 13.1 miles worth to be precise, a mars bar from the nice lady in the Cancer Research tent, a quick change between two buses and then a peaceful train journey back to Stevenage where my car had not been stolen. So I am not going to write about running. Instead I will write about not running. For 4 blissful weeks after completing the challenge I did not run at all. Not even a little bit. Not even in New York with my hotel close to Central Park (but I think that may have been to do with finally sorting out the main work issues confronting us with one of my San Francisco partners over a bottle of whisky until after 2am that morning. Trouble with the solutions you find in those clear thinking moments is that they are like leprechauns gold - gone in the morning. As was the volition to move, let alone run). Not running beat running hands down during those weeks.
And they were busy weeks. In the US 3 times in 4 weeks, Central Europe and Scotland once each, making presentations at 3 UK conferences or seminars, staggering through a bevy of client entertainment functions and generally working hard and adding more padding (to my midriff, not the bills, for the benefit of any client who has continued to read this far). For the last of the US trips my family tagged along, presumably to make sure I was not one of those guys with a second parallel family life in the US. Having the family around meant things started to return to normal. Breakfast...with Goofy (no, not me, the cartoon character); upside down on rollercoasters with Shona screaming (she was holding the bags at the side watching her family hurtling past but everyone's threshold is different); watching performing whales while close by large tracts of land were in flames [this was the time of the San Diego fires]. It was indeed surreal. I needed relief and so finally out came the faithful traveling companions, the running shoes. The Wilson running shoe motto: "Go everywhere; hide in the bag". But not this time. Turns out my 7 year old daughter has a disconcerting running style - all out sprint for up to 200 yards and then a slouching stroll for about the same then off again like a rocket with no warning. Once my early morning back had loosened this seemed quite a good arrangement. A few of our companions on the path had masks on - the fires had been close a few days before - but the air quality was as good as London (perhaps not the optimum test) yet you could still see their eyes bulging with surprise at the approaching lurching hulk and his young sprinting companion. My daughter would have gone on forever but this was a holiday and so there was a strict timetable to be kept to. We headed towards our breakfast appointment - not the cartoon Goofy this time and I reflected that I only managed 4 weeks of not running before I started running again. Maybe next year I could be sponsored for not running 50 miles? Actually distance is no object - I am prepared to be sponsored for not running 100 miles next year.
This running thing may well be a family thing. My brother is doing the Great North Run with me next year - only thing is he does not know yet - so don't tell him will you?
FINAL APPEAL: please donate to these good causes so I can stop sending the emails...
Keith
Sent: Wednesday, 21 November, 2007 6:56:39 PMSubject: More, More, More... 50 miles for charity
I did the old brutal running challenge thing (a few weeks ago now and I am nearly recovered) and many of you have sponsored me. Quite a few have not....which is ok if you don't want to. Not like I can make you or anything. I would just say 50 miles was pretty tough for a man of my advancing age and condition and it was for good causes, but it is up to you. However, quite a few people do want to (or so they have said) and have not. In fact, wherever I go (even sad, wet Hampden on Saturday (by the way good luck Northern Ireland and England tonight)) someone says "oh I must give you something for your running". When it was the doctor I started to get worried. Anyway now's the time, now's the hour. Your big chance to pay up. Next mail I may name and shame those who have promised but not delivered...but then again I won't really but I like sounding tough.
Cheques payable to "Orbis" or "Cancer Research" (you choose) can be sent to me at Paul Hastings 10 Bishops Square Eighth Floor London E1 6EG;
or donate through these pages www.orbis.org.uk/KeithWilson or http://www.justgiving.com/keith50miles2007
if the hyperlinks don't work by clicking on them then copy and paste them into your browser or ask a younger person for help.
I reckon that if everyone who has said they will does then we will top £7000 (and that is before my fine and generous partner Jon Simpson (i/c charity budget) decides the handsome Paul Hastings donation). To those who have, many thanks. To those who have not yet, thanks in anticipation.
Some of you like some chat. Here is one I started a couple of week ago (and there is another one (the "spiked one") that I deemed unsuitable for publication under the Paul Hastings name - but I may be prepared to share it from my home email if personally requested by email with evidence of a charitable donation and a disclaimer (ever the lawyer).
The Great North Run, the final piece in the jigsaw of 50 miles, was relatively uneventful for me. It involved a lot of running - about 13.1 miles worth to be precise, a mars bar from the nice lady in the Cancer Research tent, a quick change between two buses and then a peaceful train journey back to Stevenage where my car had not been stolen. So I am not going to write about running. Instead I will write about not running. For 4 blissful weeks after completing the challenge I did not run at all. Not even a little bit. Not even in New York with my hotel close to Central Park (but I think that may have been to do with finally sorting out the main work issues confronting us with one of my San Francisco partners over a bottle of whisky until after 2am that morning. Trouble with the solutions you find in those clear thinking moments is that they are like leprechauns gold - gone in the morning. As was the volition to move, let alone run). Not running beat running hands down during those weeks.
And they were busy weeks. In the US 3 times in 4 weeks, Central Europe and Scotland once each, making presentations at 3 UK conferences or seminars, staggering through a bevy of client entertainment functions and generally working hard and adding more padding (to my midriff, not the bills, for the benefit of any client who has continued to read this far). For the last of the US trips my family tagged along, presumably to make sure I was not one of those guys with a second parallel family life in the US. Having the family around meant things started to return to normal. Breakfast...with Goofy (no, not me, the cartoon character); upside down on rollercoasters with Shona screaming (she was holding the bags at the side watching her family hurtling past but everyone's threshold is different); watching performing whales while close by large tracts of land were in flames [this was the time of the San Diego fires]. It was indeed surreal. I needed relief and so finally out came the faithful traveling companions, the running shoes. The Wilson running shoe motto: "Go everywhere; hide in the bag". But not this time. Turns out my 7 year old daughter has a disconcerting running style - all out sprint for up to 200 yards and then a slouching stroll for about the same then off again like a rocket with no warning. Once my early morning back had loosened this seemed quite a good arrangement. A few of our companions on the path had masks on - the fires had been close a few days before - but the air quality was as good as London (perhaps not the optimum test) yet you could still see their eyes bulging with surprise at the approaching lurching hulk and his young sprinting companion. My daughter would have gone on forever but this was a holiday and so there was a strict timetable to be kept to. We headed towards our breakfast appointment - not the cartoon Goofy this time and I reflected that I only managed 4 weeks of not running before I started running again. Maybe next year I could be sponsored for not running 50 miles? Actually distance is no object - I am prepared to be sponsored for not running 100 miles next year.
This running thing may well be a family thing. My brother is doing the Great North Run with me next year - only thing is he does not know yet - so don't tell him will you?
FINAL APPEAL: please donate to these good causes so I can stop sending the emails...
Keith
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