Hello and thanks for looking at my page! So, in a similar way to our dear departed Amy Winehouse, I went 'Back to Fat' after my previous triathlon in 2014.  I got married and gained around 3 stone by drinking copious amounts of delicious craft ale whilst smoking as many rollies as possible.  It was great.

In September of last year I decided to sign-up for the Mallorca 70.3 Ironman.  You swim 1.9km in the sea, cycle 90km up a mountain and back down, then run a half marathon (it's more than double anything I've attempted before).  This was guaranteed to get me fit and very quickly too! - after all, you can't delay your training for one of these things can you?  9 months should give me just enough time to get the weight off and make it around the ironman course in the maximum allotted time of 8 hours.  If you're still out there after 8 hrs they disqualify you and send you home with no medal, you're not allowed to finish the course.  They basically tell you to piss off.  

So with that in mind and being the procrastinator that I am, I began my training on the 4th January 2016.  I did manage give up smoking on the 29th December though so it's not all bad.

A few years ago I became a qualified Samaritan, the training takes quite a while to complete and I know from personal experience that everyone volunteers and gives as much time as they are able to.  Often you're  providing quite mundane support over the phone, talking to nutters who ring daily.  There's also the elderly who are often lonely and just want a natter with someone.  These people still need your time and that's why they're calling, as a Samaritan you listen to them all.  Then occasionally you will receive a call where someone is at the very end of tolerating their life.  This is where your training and experience kicks in.  It's always a traumatic call but being there for someone at that moment is sometimes the difference between life and death.  That's why I'm raising money for The Samaritans, they care and they volunteer their time week in week out. 

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