Hello!

 

So, it’s that time of year when everyone receives hundreds of messages and group invites detailing some immensely difficult event that they are going to put themselves through and give there all in order to raise some money for a worthwhile cause. And although that is pretty much what this is, I do hope that you will read on and not dismiss this message immediately, as I am about to tell you a tale.

 

A few weeks ago I was speaking to a friend of my mother’s who works for a charity called the Outward Bound Trust. She said that rather oddly this year they had a few marathon places left that they needed to fill before the final deadline that week and asked if I fancied it, although she did warn that the race was only 11 weeks away and that training would be tough.

 

And so I started thinking to myself “Pish! 11 weeks to train for a marathon? If Katie Price and a bloke in a diving suit can do it, then surely so can I! Maybe I’ll do it in fancy dress, just to make it a bit tougher!”

 

So I took her up on the offer, brimming with confidence. That was five weeks ago, in which time I have realised that 26.2 miles is actually a really long way and the human body isn’t really designed to run that far in one go. I’m still struggling to clamber out of the worst shape of my life and the injuries are starting to mount up-I haven’t been able to run for the last two weeks due to a foot injury. My initial confidence has been replaced with fear. Crippling fear.

 

So I ask of you, nay, I beg of you, to help contribute to my sorry self with a small monetary donation to my cause. It’s called the Outward Bound Trust, and it organises and pays for disdvantaged young people to experience the great outdoors, putting on guided camping/adventure expeditions across the Lake District etc to help poor youngsters with low self-esteem, negative influences and lack of social responsibility unlock their potential and aspire to be something better. All excellent stuff. For more info check out their website: http://www.outwardbound.org.uk/

 

Still not convinced? Well here are some incentives. There is still talk of fancy dress (at the moment dressing as a nightclub “freshen up” man is the front runner, but I don’t think I could balance a tray of aftershave bottles for that long) and if you sponsor you can have a say in what the final decision is. Also, there will be a finishing time sweepstakes-when you place you sponsorship, predict my finishing time and whoever gets closes will be awarded with a mystery prize!*

  

Oh, and if you could leave some sort of message of “You can do it Alex!”, or “I believe in you Bryson” that would be great-my self belief needs to get a boost from somewhere. Alternatively, if you want to do it the old fashioned way, lets go for a drink some time and I can get you to fill out a little paper sponsorship form, just like school days. Hurrah! I’m off the lager though so make mine a Lucozade.

 

And finally, if you want to come and give me some much needed support, why not come and watch the race on Sunday April 17^th – it promises to be an excellent day out. If you have trouble finding me I’ll be the guy up the front nestled amongst the Kenyans. Possibly.

 

Right well that’s it from me. On a serious note it is a great cause and I would be mega grateful for any contributions, no matter what size, so please do get involved. Apologies for this being such a marathon message-how ironic.

 

Cheers!

 

Bryson xxxx

 

*Quality of mystery prize is by no means guaranteed to be high.