My back hurts. My back hurts because my hamstrings are tight, a consequence no doubt of failing to stretch enough after my run last night. The reason why this information is being included on a blog on the CAT Magazine website is because I was out running last night as part of my training for the London Marathon which I’m running along with three other members of the CAT team: sales manager Martin Lee, salesman Jonny Whitehead and former editor Emma Butcher.
We are doing this to raise money for BEN, and quite frankly, I find myself wondering if there aren’t easier ways of doing this. Running in the current cold temperatures is a long way short of fun, and moderating ones alcohol intake on a Saturday night isn’t simple either, though it does make the long run on a Sunday morning a bit more manageable.
I completed the London Marathon in 2002 in a shade under four-and-a-half hours. Back then I was younger, fitter, lighter and hadn’t had the cartilage in my knee damaged by a hockey ball. While I would love to set a new personal best, I realise that the 26.2 miles on April 22 will represent an exercise in survival and that simply getting round while the sun is still above the horizon will represent a successful day.
Ultimately, this blog post is here to direct you to our fundraising page. We’d like to try and raise £10,000 from our endeavours and for that we must rely on the generosity of others, so please take a moment to remember that last Sunday when you were sat in a pub watching the football and enjoying a nice meal you saw some hapless idiot jog past the window. That was us. When you were on your way home from work and drove past someone jogging slowly through the remains of the snow. That was us. When you ask ‘what sort of idiot runs 26 miles through the streets of London?’ That will be us.
So here is your opportunity to help us raise money for BEN, and for those of you with a wicked side, humiliate me. For the right sized donation I am prepared to do pretty much anything on the day. I might draw the line at running the marathon in custard-filled wellies but I am happy to pimp myself to provide corporate exposure. Have you got a branded costume or outfit? Large sandwich board? Comedy foam hands? If your donation is large enough then your brand name could adorn the pages of this magazine, not to mention increase the chances of me being stopped for an interview on Tower Bridge. ‘So, why are you dressed as a dual-mass flywheel?’
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/CATmag
Thank you in advance for your kind donations. If you want to have a laugh, humiliate me, and give your company some amusing exposure, then please get in touch.
I’m off for a run.
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