2 1/2 years ago I decided that I needed to learn to swim properly and the challenge I set myself was to be able to do an Olympic distance triathlon within 6 months.

18 months later I had completed 4 of them, for some foolish reason decided that I needed another challenge and put an entry in for the UK Ironman 70.3 which takes place on 17th June 2012 in Somerset. For those that don't know what this is, there is a 1.25 mile swim in a lake followed by a 56 mile bike ride with nearly 6000 feet of climbing (that's a lot of hills) with a 1/2 marathon run to finish off. I'm hoping to complete it in somewhere between 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours.

I have done a lot of silly things before but this is undoubtedly the most silly and I thought that there may as well be some good to come from it. Which is why I've decided to raise funds for the refurbishment of the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester where I work.

An appeal is about to be launched to raise funds for the upgrading of the facilities there to ensure that the unit can continue to provide care to newborn babies with a variety of medical problems in a safe and comfortable environment for both the babies and their families.

Every little bit will help and it would be great if you could help to make my utter lunacy worthwhile. 

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Cheers

Ravi :)