"Sponsor Me" the two hardest words

 

The London Marathon is less than three weeks away and after all the training here comes the difficult part:

Asking for sponsorship money.

In the last two weeks I have really upped my marathon training.

On a Monday I do speed interval work alternating between fast and slow running clocking 15kms in an hour.

On a Tuesday I do sprint hill training (for just half an hour) along with stretches.

On Wednesdays I run a half marathon

On Thursdays I do the sprint hill training again

On a Friday I go back to my 15kms of speed interval work

On a Saturday I do a long trail run of about 20 miles

And on a Sunday I rest.

For most normal people this would sound a bit excessive to say the least and non-runners I’ve spoken to seem to think this all sounds a bit too much like hard work. But I’ve built up to this routine slowly and even though it can be hard to get out of bed on a cold morning I don’t find it that difficult.

What I find difficult is asking people for money. I’m running the London marathon for a small charity called the Jack and Ada Beattie Foundation. They are a small charity that gives out grants to people in crisis or real need (you can check out the work they do here http://www.beattiefoundation.com/ ). I’ve known that I’ve been running for a little while now but I have kept putting off asking people to sponsor me.

I’m not sure why I hate asking people to sponsor me so much. Maybe it’s because I don’t like asking people for favours or I don’t like imposing on people. Whatever it is I find running 40 to 50 miles a week easier than sending out a simple email.

However now I have sent out the email to friends and family asking for sponsorship I have found people’s response really positive. And it even motivates me more to train even harder knowing that I am doing it for a good cause and that other people want me to succeed.

I just wish I had asked for people’s money earlier.

(The picture today is of a flyer for the charity's last event - a Valentine's Dinner of "unloved" food that has been thrown away to highlight all the people going hungry while food is being wasted)