London Baby

Some of you may know that one of my goals is to run a marathon. And yes, I’ve been training and training, but I still haven’t done it yet.

The London marathon is the pinnacle for me; I apply every year through the ballot and every year I get an email saying something along the lines of “unlucky, better luck next year”. I then get a jacket with “you didn’t make it into the London Marathon” printed on. Whilst this seems a bit like rubbing the salt into the wound, you get one if you choose to donate your entry fee to charity and personally, I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t.

This year was different, and I was chuffed to get an out of the blue acceptance email from Macmillan Cancer Trust! Very puzzling as I didn’t actually apply for a place, but when I spotted a meddlesome colleague of mine grinning at me in a knowing way, it didn’t take me long to piece it together…

For reasons some of you may know, Macmillan is a charity extremely close to my heart and so I literally jumped at the opportunity to race and raise money for them; £2,500 to be precise. After I got over the shock, I thought long and hard about how I should go about raising the money. No that’s a lie, I didn’t think long or hard. I had some pretty black and white ideas straight away. What I didn’t want to do was simply ask other people to pay up so that I can do something I really want; it just doesn’t sit too well with me, even if it is for an amazing cause. So, my fund-raising strategy will be a little bit different.

Firstly, I’ve decided to let our wonderful FITISM members inflict some of the punishment I’ve been dishing out on them for years…on me! This could work out badly for me so I’m dragging Layla in on it too because (and I’m sure you’ve cracked the code already) she was the one who got me into this mess! Look out for further news on this – you’ll get your chance to come up with some gruesome workouts, but obviously you’ll have to pay for the pleasure by donating funds. You can also join in; if you don’t, you can donate double! I’m sure I’ll be asking myself why on earth I agreed to it when the time comes but secretly I’m really inspired by the infamous David Goggins and I’m quite looking forward to challenging myself to some self-inflicted pain (but don’t tell anyone that!).

Secondly, I’m going to offer my training services for donations too. The Wilmslow Half Marathon is in April, and I know many people who have been tempted to enter but have not felt confident or prepared enough. So, I’m offering online programming in exchange for donations. This is ideal for those who can’t get to the gym and, for those who already do have FITISM sessions, it will sit nicely alongside those. I can create a programme that will build you up so that you can not only compete, you can really enjoy it and do yourself proud. The programme will last 4 months, and you’ll get….

1. Running programme
2. Monthly group catch up via zoom
3. To be part of a community all heading towards the same goal

All I ask in return for the 4 months coaching up until the race is that you donate the commercial price of 1 months’ online coaching. Interested? Email richard@fitism.co.uk to get started.

If I’ve got it right, the more I suffer and the more I help others achieve their goal then the more money Macmillan receive. And there’s no convincing me that that’s not the best possible outcome.

Rich

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