UPDATE

Well, it’s 4 weeks until Challenge Weymouth Ironman is upon us, or more importantly upon me. I would like to thank all those of you who have already donated very generously, and many of you have asked me to send or re-send details of my just giving page.

Just over a month ago I did the Weymouth Half Ironman, along with my fellow Ironman contestants, my brother Gareth, Mansi and Eddy. The swim went slightly better for me than the Florida ‘alligator incident’, however swimming in the sea with a strong current produced its own challenges, the largest of which were hundreds, literally hundreds of big, dustbin lid size jelly fish! They weren’t stingers, but they definitely got me a bit jumpy, especially when touching them!

The bike went well, the first time using tri-bars, but we found the course is pretty hilly, and we have to do the exact same course, but obviously twice for the full Ironman. We have a 2000m climb during the full, which I’m not looking forward to!

The run was another disaster, cramped up, and took 2hrs 30m to do my half marathon, some say it was the red wine the night before, but I reckon it was the flight just 2 days previously!

All in all, I was in quite a lot of pain at the end, what’s more the thought of doing it again almost brought me to tears!

4 weeks to go, I’ve almost raised my GBP5k target, but it would be great to reach and beat it!

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In, what can only be described as, my 'Mid Life Crisis', I have decided to take on a number of very silly challenges. All of you know me well enough to know that Endurance Athlete is a moniker that doesn’t fit well with Alun Thomas, some would say due to my life style, I’d prefer to blame the numerous injuries from playing rugby over the years.

In my 40th year on earth I have signed up to do my 1st Marathon, 1st Half Ironman, 2nd Half Ironman and finally and most stupidly of all my 1st Ironman. I have already realised it would have been easier and more fun to just get a sportscar and a young blonde, but Elyna has reminded me it would cost a lot more!

The story so far:

• 23rd February I ran the Tokyo Marathon. I did train pretty hard for it, and I think training in Bermuda helped a lot when running in a cooler climate. I hated the training and kept waiting for that moment when I suddenly liked running, but it never came. I did really enjoy the day though, and managed to achieve my goal of sub 4 hrs, running 3hrs 54 mins.
  
• 13th April I did the Florida Ironman 70.3, a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. Unfortunately the post marathon celebrations for 4 weeks took their toll and the 33c temperature in Haines City Florida didn’t help. So far the worst day of my sporting life, I say so far knowing what I have to come later in the year. I wanted to beat 6 hrs, but struggled badly finishing in 6hrs 30 mins.
  

Those two events were done solo, now I’ll be bringing in the cavalry Gareth, Mansi and Eddy, 3 very fine athletes to help me round the remaining two events, with zero Ironman races between them they should be able to fill me with confidence.

• 13th July Weymouth, Dorset, UK. 70.3 Iron Man. Hoping to beat 6hrs.
  
• 14th September Weymouth, Dorset, Full Ironman. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2m run. I’m feeling a little sick as I type this. I really don’t know what time to be targeting, but the cut off times for each discipline to be completed from the beginning of the race are, swim 2 hrs 20 mins, bike 10hrs 30 mins and to finish the run within 17hrs from the start of the race. I’m thinking if I can do the half in 6hrs I should be trying to do the full in 14hrs.
  

Many of you have kindly offered to sponsor me for the events I have already done, but I have been waiting for the 'Michelle Zalkin Scholarship' charity to be set up. Michelle was a very dear friend of ours who, very sadly, passed away in December after her very long and brave battle with Cancer. Not only will Michelle be hugely missed as a wife to Jon, mum to Holly and Tom and as a very good and dependable friend to many, but she will also be greatly missed in her professional role as a Pediatric Registrar, specialising in Child Protection. Michelle was at the pinnacle in this field and the charity her husband Jon has set up in her name will help keep children safe for years to come.

The Michelle Zalkin Scholarship will provide a fully funded place each year on a Masters Degree in Child Public Health and Child Protection. This is the same MSC that Michelle took while undergoing chemotherapy. Michelle was an exceptional student and earned a distinction. Michelle worked in the community in a specialist clinic seeing the most complex and harrowing of child protection cases. She was an unstinting advocate of the child ensuring that everything was done, across all agencies to ensure that the child's needs were met and that they were safe from harm. The aim with the scholarship is to increase the pool of talent in this field. To encourage more talented students to further their education and skills in this vital, but highly challenging area. I hope that in future years, these scholarship students will be applying the knowledge they gain in the protection of children all over the UK.

Thank you for your support throughout my mid life crisis and in this important fund raising for UCL and Michelle. 

Alun.