Feeling blessed, dedicated to you all!

Don't worry I am going to try my best not to post a load of old spirtual claptrap but am feeling extremely positive about where I am with my running and life in general at the moment so am going to share the reasons why with you my loyal followers :-) I have my 30 mile race tomorrow, is actually a 10 mile multi terrain race organised by my club but I am running it three times. At the time I suggested doing it it was partly to give me something to aim for and partly to try and keep peopple interested in my fundraising effort. The fact that I am actually going to be starting it tomorrow though, after some strong training over the last few months, has allowed me to take stock a little over the last few weeks of my 2013 journey. Unless you are a complete newbie, in which case Hi *waves* :-) , you will know it is only 7 months since I landed on the bench and the challenge that had consumed my life for 18 months so unceremoniously and abruptly unravelled. Now I read with, unfortunately, regularity about other peoples trials and tribulations with injuries and other problems that stops them doing the thing we all love running and this makes me appreciate even more where I have come from and where I am today. if you are one of those who isn't able to run at the moment it probably wont help but I will in part run tomorrows race for you guys and gals. Stay strong, be patient, it will, as the old going says, all come out in the wash! I'm sure If I read back through my infrequent blogs I will see that I have mentioned this point time and time again but with the aforementioned challenge there was always a very fine line between whether I was doing it more for me or for the sake of the charities I support. Well over the last few weeks I have made a half baked attempt at getting this years fundraising total up to £5000 before gift aid, I am going to fall a couple of hundred pound short I think but hey who is counting (lots of people I'm sure but you get my drift). Again though I feel blessed that I have managed to raise this amount and what must be close to £10000 since I started pounding the tarmac. This is solely down to you lovely lovely people who have made the kind donations, whether you be Fetchies, FB friends, Twitter followers or one of the normal people ;-) such as friends, friends of friends or one of my wonderful students past or present. So the race tomorrow will also be for you, there are more than one of you that I know for a fact gave to the cause when times were hard, again including students who spent their very own beer tokens supporting me *cheers *pint* Lastly I keep on remembering small details of the levels people went to to support me during the challenge in addition to the kind donations. I can't even begin to list what all this support consisted of but I will always be in your debt, every last one of you, and will be back asking for help again in 2015 x There is however one person who stands out today who offered incredible support with route planning, offers of accommodation and general advice and encouragement. That I haven't met this guy for over 20 years since we both uncermoniously dropped out of Liverpool University after 1 year (we didn't have a choice really, attending some lectures may have helped) makes his level of support even more incredible. Unfortunately this friend lost his wife, and I don't know the ins and outs, what seemed extremely suddenly this week. Certainly again this is something that, I'm sure, makes many of us appreciate what we have even more and I know for many of you will get you thinking of what you have lost. So I am also going to be running the 30 miles for all you guys who have made this year so much easier for me in so many ways but mainly in memory of my friends wife and all you other people who still miss departed loved ones. So I don't want your donations this time just for you to keep on being you and at some point between 9 and 2 tomorrow spare a thought for those a little less unfortunate than yourselves at the moment, unfortunately it can only take a split second for the shoe to be on the other foot. So thanks again, whatever happens in the race tomorrow, and it at the very least looks like being dry which is good, it will be you guys that are pushing me on when, for instance, I get to the killer hill for the last time. Cheers! Peaceout!