Standing at the start line, there’ll be 26 miles lying ahead of me, 26 miles of gut wrenching pain, and soul sapping fatigue, requiring strength, robustness and unwavering determination to get through.

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Standing at the beginning of training runs now exists an overweight man (I checked the charts), moobs, paunch and fear in abundance as I set out in the freezing cold air, gasping, panting and wheezing my way through to the finish… and then I’m in constant pain afterwards as my giant legs recover from the harrowing saga.

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Suffice to say there’s a long way to go! But removed from the pain and ordeal of my personal challenge, I’m delighted to say that I’m running in support of a great British charity - St John Ambulance.

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St John Ambulance - introduction

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I’d love it if you could take a few moments to read about the work St John Ambulance do. They are a great British institution with origins going back the 11^th Century. Goodness knows how many people they’ve helped in this time. Their ethos endures to this day:

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“everyone who needs it should receive first aid from those around them. No one should suffer for the lack of trained first aiders”.

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My Grandfather became a Knight of St John after a lifetime of supporting and fundraising for the charity, and it gives me great pride to be running and raising funds for his cause and continuing his legacy in a small way.

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St John Ambulance – quick facts

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• Events support - from local events and football games to The Marathon itself
• Emergency support – there for the major floods in 2007 and for the 7/11 attacks
• Community first responders – 1000’s across the country, the first to get to emergency calls, and provide help before the Ambulance arrives
• 44,000 volunteers. Over 20,000 young cadets across the .
• 250,000 people trained in first aid every year

St John Ambulance – and you…

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It’s impossible to precisely quantify the effect of the 5 million hours of free time given by St John volunteers every year. But it’s easy to see how much we’d miss them if they weren’t there.

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Whilst you may not have personally benefited from the treatment of a St John Ambulance volunteer, you’ve almost certainly been to an event that they have supported. From football games, Village Fetes, Music Festivals, Rugby matches, right the way through to Wimbledon, Silverstone, Lords Cricket and theMarathon itself!

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Many of these events just couldn’t happen without the time and dedication given by St John volunteers. These are good people giving up their weekends to helps us, for nothing in return, and I think that's amazing!

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Find out more if you like:  www.sja.org.uk

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The sponsorship target

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I’m aiming for £1,500!

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Remarkably St John Ambulance receives no government funding, and rely solely on donations from the public to fund their operations. They need money to ensure they are able to continue to offer their great service to the British community. They need money to train the 1000’s of young volunteers, maintain their fleet of ambulances and to continue buy vital life saving equipment.

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£1,300 could buy an Automated Eternal Defibrillator. If used within minutes of a heart attack, chance of survival increases by 85%. So if we get one of these, we could be saving lives.

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St John is a quintessentially British institution that operates every day all over the county doing fantastic work that helps binds communities together. 44,000 plain good people enabling 100’s of events to happen every day. These guys and girls are the backbone of our country, and I want to support them partly just to say thanks!

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My progress so far…

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I’m up to 12 miles now on the weekends, and regularly running into work, doing weights, swimming, cardio work and squash. I’m radically reducing my alcohol consumption. The moobs are proving a challenge though…

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It’s pretty tough getting up in the mornings, and running to work. Last week my hands and forearms virtually froze solid. Most odd. But I’m plugging on and making progress.

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I’m also running:

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• Brighton half marathon – February
• Bath half marathon – March
• As well as – THE LONDON MARATHON - April

A total of about 52 miles. That’s about the same length as the circumference of the earth. I’m sponsoring myself £1 a mile, so I have a vested interest in failing miserably. Win win situation.

Please give whatever you can (as long as it’s not abuse, that may hurt my feelings)

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It’s fantastic coming back to this page and seeing another donation. It really makes my next run a bit easier, and gives me the steel I need to crack on through the pain!

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As I run I think about the money being raised, and I imagine my Grandpa looking down saying “well done!”. So please give anything you can to help me reach my target, to help motivate and spur me on, and to help St John Ambulance continue to do their great work!

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THANK YOU!

P.S. remember that ticking gift aid, makes the government increase your donation by a hefty amount! do it!