Hi all,

I have decided to try my hand at doing a triathlon to see:

a) how much money I can raise for two lovely causes

b) if it possible for me to finish said triathlon without drowning/falling off my bike/falling over (probability of any of these fairly high)

The triathlon is on Sunday 19th August (please feel free to come watch and laugh if you are free - its in Crystal Palace) - and I have been training for a couple of months now.  I want to not just finish but make a decent time (and not get lost on the course which from training sessions is a very, very real possibility).

The first £220 of fundraising will be going to Leonard Cheshire Disability who do a lot of wonderful work helping individuals with disabilities with so many aspects of their lives - from practical advice on benefits to getting them into sports.  This charity run the triathlon and are providing so much support to novices i.e. me on things like 'you can't use your old bike that you have named Norma and is covered in spiderwebs to do a triathlon - we will let you hire one cheaply from us instead that doesn't have a basket attached to it'.  

If I reach this target, I will then be asking for donations to Wandsworth Mind - the charity that I used to work for and a cause very close to my own heart. I run a group there for young people with mental health problems that works to get them integrated into the community and stop the isolation and stigma that so many of them experience.  The money will go to paying for the costs of community based activities to take away the financial burden that they face when trying to get their lives back on track.

For those of you who know me I am not the fittest in the world so the training has been quite a challenge - there has been a lot of getting confused at road markings cycling on roads near Tulse Hill (who knew that was a place?!) and generally feeling like I might possibly die after running sessions.

Any donations - however big or small - would therefore be so much appreciated for my efforts.

Thank you!

PS the photo is currently the only picture that I have of me doing any form of physical exercise. I hope to add to this after August 19th and have some sort of gallery of pride...