Thanks for visiting my fundraising page for Spinal Reseach!!

As you already know my name's Ben! I'm 21 years old and have decided to do the London Marathon this year!! (You know, that gruelling 26.2 mile thing!)

Just A Little About Me

Basically I live for sport!! I'm a keen sportsman playing both football and golf as much as I can! I play off a handicap of 4 in golf and play at a reasonable level in football.

I also work in football as a coach at Ipswich Town Football Club Academy. I've just passed my UEFA 'B' License which is very handy! At the moment i'm working with the Under 11s which is great!! The're always chatting away and learning new things!

I've just turned 21 and thought it would be a great idea to do something special for it, so decided to get in shape and run across London!! Even more crazy this will be my FIRST MARATHON and I'm hoping to do it inside 3 and a half hours! Wish me luck!!

Just turning 21 is one of my reasons for running it, but the main reason is to do with my dad's story...

Why Spinal Research??

You're probably thinking though 'Why is he doing it for Spinal Research?'. Well its mainly to do with my Dad.

Back when he was 15 he went on a school trip to Wales and was walking up some steep hills around Abba Falls. It had been raining so the ground was slippery. They had managed to get to the top, and were now going to come back down, unfortunately my Dad was first to go. The ground gave way from beneath him and he ended up falling 100ft.

He ended up breaking his neck, wrist and elbow, and also dislocated his hip. He was paralysed from the neck down at first. He got told by doctors that he wouldn't walk again. He ended up being at Stoke Mandeville Hospital for a year, but thanks to their amazing help he gradually managed to get his movement back, and began to learn to walk again.

He took his appreciation of their help to another level by in fact running the London Marathon for them in 1986!! Due to this great effort, he was able to present his cheque of over £1000 to the one and only Sir Jimmy Savile!

 Due to this I thought it was a great charity to do this Marathon for!

Also my cousin is going to run with me!! His name's Adam who's also going to be 21 by the time we've got to run! (Also in picture, he's on the left)

LATEST NEWS!

20/02/09: Opened up the page!!

20/02/09: Its coming upto just 8 Weeks until the marathon! I've been training now for about six weeks and am now upto doing 7 Miles in 55Mins! So overall the training isn't going bad, although I've decided to push myself on the Sunday coming up.

I'm going to try and run 12 Miles!! It is a big jump but I now need to start running these longer distances! Hopefully I'll be able to get my breath back afterwards! Will keep you posted about how it goes!! WATCH THIS SPACE!

22/02/09: Just got back from my run, had a little scare at 4 Miles, lower back muscles were giving me a lot of pain! Managed to run through it after a quick stretch and a short walk!

Ended up doing 12.2 Miles! The exact time was.... 1Hour 30Mins and 8Secs!!! I'm over the moon with that time! Now need to go and have a nice long bath and rest my legs!! Talk to you soon!

25/02/09: Done a 3.5 Mile interval run today, went ok although I have strained my right calf, first proper injury other than blisters! Hopefully will recover before the weekend as planned another long run for either sat or sun!

26/02/09: Calf still not great will be resting it today, will be doing some weights and situps instead today!!

28/02/09: Going to do the long run tomorrow, just going to give the calf another day, going to try and run 16 Miles tomorrow! So fingers crossed I can do it in about the 2 Hour mark!!

1/03/09: BAD NEWS!!! Got through to 9 Miles in just over an hour but pain came back in calf, seeing a physio tomorrow. Pretty sure I've strained the muscle, hopefully with some rest I'll be back on the roads next weekend!!

13/03/09: Sorry I haven't wrote lately, computer at home has gone wrong!! Still have got a little pain in my calf and back, but is getting better! Did 11.2 Miles yeasterday in 1 Hour 24 Mins so I'm definately on my way back to fitness!! Will keep you upto date!!!

19/03/09: Went for a 15 Mile run today! Would of gone for longer but unfortunately needed the loo!!! I'm sure I'll have the same problem on race day! I took 1 Hour 53 Mins and 42 Secs though, so its UNDER my projected time that I want to do The Marathon in, just somehow got to keep the pace up for the following 11 MILES!! Will be looking to do my final long run in the next two weeks, then its time to eat as much carbs as possible!!

3/04/09: Still haven't sorted the computer out at home yet, so sorry for not keeping you upto date lately, had a few ups and downs recently. Been running well but have picked up the same problem again which has stopped me from doing my last long run! Seeing a physio about it hopefully today!!

I will hopefully be able to get a couple of 10 milers in before the big day, but I reckon this week will have to be a rest week, fingers crossed the injury isn't that bad!!

10/4/09: 16 Days To Go! My nerves problems down my calf have got a lot better, another couple of days and I should be back to running! Is a big relief, and now I can really look forward to the day!! Will be meeting up with Adam for some training this week coming up so we'll get to see what its like running together!!

Keep this quiet but I'm going a little quicker than him at the moment!! But you know the story about the hare and the tortoise, I will say no more!!!

17/4/09: Not long to go now, went for a couple of short runs over the weekend that went well, took it easy just to help my calf. Now eating as much pasta, potatoes, bread and rice as I can!! Bound to get bored of it soon!!

24/4/09: 2 Days Left!! Really can't wait now till the day itself, can't believe its actually here!! The experience is going to be amazing! Big upside that its not going to be too hot now, if your going to be lookin out for me on the day my vest is mainly BLACK with a bit of WHITE and GREY and some PINK lines!!

My number is going to be 39341 in Red! So look out for me!! 

This is probably the last time you'll hear from me before the day itself so I would just like to say thankyou to everyone who's sponsored me and supported me throughtout the whole experience, it has meant an awful lot to me so thankyou!!

28/4/09: I've Done It!! Managed to finish it, was a bit of a struggle after 19 Miles but managed to put a type of sprint finish in at the end! My official time was 4 Hours 31 Minutes and 32 Seconds. I know this was longer than my hoped time, but I decided to run with my cousin for 13 Miles which made me enjoy the experience more! Speaking of my cousin, he ended up finishing only 4 minutes behind me, so that was a great effort!! Once again thankyou to all who have sponsored me!!

I will hopefully know the overall amount I have raised in Mid-May, so will keep you posted when I find out! 

8/5/09: Getting closer to receiving all of the sponsor money! Had a big surprise yesterday, an anonomous person matched the £1500 I had to raise!! Thankyou ever so much to that person, it really means a lot, was quite speechless when I found out.

So now I'm hoping to raise just over £4,000! Fingers crossed!! By the way, I'm nearly back to normal again, still feel a bit stiff when I get up in the mornings!! 

15/5/09: GOOD NEWS!! Managed to get past the £4000 mark!! Thanks to a recent golf trip, the organiser helped out by playing heads and tails, with all the proceedings going to Spinal Research. The game managed to raise £232, so thankyou to all that joined in!!

Nearly got all of the money in now, so will have a final total for you soon!!!

How To Donate

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Spinal Research gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

The Final Bit!

Hopefully you've learned a bit about me and my reasons for my decision to run for Spinal Research!

Your donations will mean so much to me and Spinal Research, thank you for all that do donate and hope you've enjoyed my page!!