Hi there,

The Leicester City Foxes Foundation (registered charity 1144793) was born in a bid to push Foxes legend Alan Birchenall's 30+ years of fundraising to an incredible £1m, making him 'One in a Million'

I'm trying to assist with the final £100,000 he needs before the end of April to reach that milestone, funds which go to 10 worthy charities.

I'm running The London Marathon, my first ever 26.2 miles effort and I've 12 weeks to get ready.

Leicester Hospitals Charity have allowed me their space in the run but your donation will go towards the One in a Million fund raiser which will distribute the funds to 10 local charities of which Leicester Hospitals is one of the amazing causes.

I'll include stupid training pictures so favourite this page and return as often as you can.

Please feel free to offer advice and motivation by Tweeting me - @StringerSport

Finally thank you, the charity appreciate every donation.

Up the City,

Ian Stringer

Day 28 of training and Day 1 of diary, Friday 3rd Feb - What a week.

Launched the fundraising and increased my training.

Managed 4.5 miles everyday. Toughest day was Thursday as I was up at 6am to get my miles in before a 9am meeting with Pukka Pies.

The meeting resulted in £500 and my first donation. 5 inches of my shirt sponsorship. Launched the shirt on Twitter and made 3 text groups on my phone to send the text number to, this took about an hour whilst waiting to speak to Wes Morgan at the LCFC presser.

Anderson Lettings Tweeted me to donate £500 on Thursday. Meaning the sponsorship was £1100 on day 1.

Friday resulted in a very kind donation of £1000 from Mark's Electrical, they have 10 squares on my shirt. Managed to make Revolution Shirts printers to get the shirt printed with 4 logos, wonder whether Nigel Pearson know's he's sponsored me yet?

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 Monday 13th Feb - Hi all. Well it's been another busy week for me. Training's going well and I'm up to 6 miles per day but have been forced to take 'rest days' every now and then, not overly happy about that but it reduces the chance of injury.

Mandy my masseuse is kindly looking after my legs and really helping avoid any muscle pulls which is a huge worry for me. Thanks for your help Mandy  :-)

Fundraising is tough but very rewarding when you see the fruits of your labour. I enjoyed a few hours speaking to LCFC fans online last week. The Foxes Talk members helped raise £150 so thanks to them.

Leicester Hospitals have been great, I'm off to see a physio this week to experience what goes on in the department. Their 'Our Space' appeal is amazing - http://www.leicestershospitals.nhs.uk/aboutus/leicester-hospitals-charity/our-space-cancer-appeal/ 

I'll post some more pics this week when Revolution have kindly printed my new sponsored t-shirt. Walkers Crisps donated £1000 today :-)

Thanks for your support and donations.

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Monday 20th Feb -

Hi folks,

It's Monday and I've not been for a morning run, I've decided to try and mix up the time of day I'm running a little more so I'll get 6 miles in this evening. That daily run is going up to 7 on Thursday.

I'm glad the snow has gone, that was tough to get a decent footing on. My long run every week is 12 miles now and that will be increased next week to 13.5 miles.

The sponsorship is going so well. As you'll see I've altered my target from £5000 to £10,000 which is a massive jump I know but I've really enjoyed watching the counter go up.

Walkers very kindly donated £1000 recently as well as all the other very kind LOCAL sponsors. Every sponsor is Leicester based and that makes me so so proud.

To all who have either donated, offered some help with advice or services and thse who have simply sent me good luck messages, I really do feed off them so keep em coming.

I saw a young lad at Leicester Hospital last Wednesday who has had two thirds of his lung removed due to cancer, I asked him "when this £1.4m is raised to build the Our Space appeal cancer ward, how will it help" his reply will stay with me forever "it'll make us happier"

The miles are easy after that.

Tell your friends in business that there's some publicity in it if they'd like to contact me and donate.

Regards,

Ian 

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Wenesday 22nd Feb

 

Wow, a great day. I've registered an £800 donation from Blue Suntree, £100 from Nick Humphreys estate agents and £100 from NEXT.

£1000 today added to the Indy, Lexus and Go Mad donations make this a good week. I'm buzzing and considering a late night run to celebrate.......maybe not.

Thanks again.

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Friday 2nd March - Think I'm running too far, masseuse Mandy has told me to back off a little. 9 miles per day was leaving my legs really heavy and I had my first 'twinge' on Tuesday night. Right achilles.

I was so worried (and still am even though it's gone now) - just goes to show that too much training and a 2 week knockback can ruin your preperation this close to the event, may as well grab 2 rest days (done) and then get a steady one in which I'll do later.

Up to 15 miles now with my weekly (sometimes twice weekly) long run and I feel strong.

I went to see John SKillen in his gym in Loughbrough this week, he had me boxing and kindly sponsored me as well, what an inspiration that guy is.

Donations are going so so well. The lovely Namrata at BBC Radio Leicester Towers is helping me and with you guys too we've pushed through £7000. These donations make the ice baths a little easier.

If you know a business who may want their logo on my t-shirt then please e-mail me: radio.leicestersport@bbc.co.uk

Thanks again.

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 17th March 2012 - The day before Leicester City Chelsea and a mixed week as far as Marathon training and fund raising goes.

I managed my first ever 20 mile run on Thursday and I felt good, manageed it in 3 hours and they reckon the last 6 miles can take you an hour so that's about 4 hour pace. As well as raising some money I'm determined to run it in under 4 hours. Plans are already in place for my next mission.

The fund raising has been slow. I was at Grove Park near the M1 knocking on the doors of the bis businesses with mixed results. No cash as yet but there's still time. Some seeds planted certainly, let's hope they grow.

Then, today, former Foxes chairman Martin George kindly donated £1000 to my shirt from his company Whitworths so we're over £11,000 with the new target £20,000 - reach for the stars etc.

I'm trying to sell some LCFC #ibelieve t-shirts as well and if that works there will be some more cash to add to the pot which will be great.

I appreciate all the support people are offering. If you know a business which may want to buy a square please let them know about this page and I'd love to place them on there.

Get your running shoes out and get on the road if you can, I'd love to inspire someone to take it up.

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April 5th 2012 - So I managed to hit the peak of my training without injury but now I'm struggling with the reduction in efforts. I've been worried about a possible knock but Mandy has helped me with that bless her.

I'm trying to keep my fitness up with trips to see John Skillen in L'Bro but I fear I'm losing my fitness and desperate to go out for some long runs, I think it will happen.

Fundraising is going ok. Up to nearly £13,000 now after the nice people at KP Snacks offered £1000 last week, thank you to all. As you'll see Whitworths (former LCFC chairman Martin George's business) also pledged £1000 so we're doing pretty well for the Foxes Foundation.

Keep going.

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 TUESDAY 24TH APRIL - WE DID IT

Hi all,

It's Tuesday and Birchy's run was completed last night after my big day on Sunday. I'm delighted with the fundraising total which continues to rise and the day was great.

Firstly I'd like to offer my condolences to the Squires family as news of her death broke overnight. She was from Leicester, the same City as me, 30 years old and trying her best to raise money for charity. I hope she rests in peace.

I'm not overly pleased with my final time of 4:22:34 but I broke the golden rule of going off too quickly but when you reflect on someone passing away 200 metres from the finish line it puts everything into some perspective.

I blew up at mile 16, didn't feel like I hit a 'wall' but simply that my legs were empty of fuel, I tried to dodge too many people early on and suffered for it later, massive lesson learnt on my part there.

The donations continue to flood in and for that I'm very thankful indeed.

This page will stay open as the Three Peaks is planned for June and then a few more marathons, let's see eh?

I appreciate all of your support, when it got tough I though about this page and all the help people have offered me and it inspired me to continue.

Get your running shoes out and get out there, you can complete a marathon. If I can, you can. Get raising money for others, there's no other feeling like it. You know when you've bought someone an extra special present at Christmas and can't wait for them to open it and see their face and make them happy? Times that by 100 and that's what raising money for charity feels like if you've never done it before.

thanks once again and keep this page on your favourites, I'll post future charity projects here.

Up the City,

Ian