First corporate sponsor

My good friends at S & A Parsons, a company I have been advising, supporting and generally working with for the past ten years have kindly agreed to sponsor me to the tune of £2 per mile. Parsons are one of the joys of the work I do in that they are a family firm with a top bloke for an MD but the sort of company you really want to succeed. Don't tell Howard (Parsons the MD) but it is enjoyable just visiting. He thinks I purely do it for the money!!

Training has commenced with getting back to reffing duties last night. Bloody cold mind you not aided by forgetting the trackie botttoms and trying to supervise neanderthalls kicking lumps out of one another in a "quaint" suburb of Chesterfield. Tonight sees me lumbering round a five a side pitch in the pursuit of the ultimate goal... well a half decent shot on target would do. No doubt will have large chunks of my ankles assaulted in the name of fun but then I cannot always claim the greatest subtlety in my approach.

Now up to £1400 so have upgraded the target to £2500 which would pay fopr an hours support of all the Marie Curie nurses in the country which is not a bad aim I feel.

Training regime begins

Well sort of anyway. Reffed a game this morning (Sams the wuss got injured and carried off) and did lots of powering through the middle and sprinting into corners... which is supposed to make you look good to assessors, mind you so is taking shorter steps to look like you are running faster but sod that for a game of soldiers. Also started to cut the old alco units down and doing more wine less beer which is surely above and beyond the call of duty. Reffing for 2 and 1/2 hours on tuesday, playing 5 a side wednesday and reffing four games next weekend so hopefully some improvement may begin to show... scales time in the morning mind. I was 15stone 5lb last Monday aargh!! yfb to all football fans.

Progress

Well the donations and pledges are going well now up to £1140 while the training is not. Had hoped to be a vision in black nylon pounding along the line at Eastwood Town this evening but the weather ruled that one out. However with 14 weeks tomorrow to go there is still time. Cheryl keeps suggesting stupid and allegedly helpful ideas like walking the dogs and drinking less but I have thus far resisted. However exercise beckons with two games planned for Sunday and a more favourable weather forecast. Here's hoping.

Must get the campsites booked soon although with snow lying at the moment and only 14 weeks away it does seem a trifle cold even with my layers of insulation. However since the first weekend is a bank holiday I need to press on. There are still lots of people to pressure especially now many have received their first wage since Xmas and the relatives have yet to be harangued. I have made contact with the charity who are sending me a pretty yellow vest for some reason in an extra large size! At least I will be visible.

The start of the idea

I first started thinking about doing something because of my sister Louise's illness last summer when my wife and stepdaughter did the Race for Life. 5km may not seem a long way but for Cheryl who hadn't run since her school days (and on the day it was 34c in Cambridge) it was a massive achievement and one which made me hugely proud. Here's them crossing the line (they are the two with the hands in the air). The day was hugely emotional for me with 10,000 women running for Cancer research and many emotive messages on display, Cheryl's is here.



I have to confess I shed a few tears when Cheryl and Bekah were out in the countryside while nursing a cold beer (pure consolation of course). I think it was at that point that I decided I had to undertake some sort of challenge and since then I have considered many options without being able to decide on exactly what I would like to do. Finally I went for something that would be a challenge physically but also be rewarding and hugely enjoyable and that is to walk the Cleveland way.



A bit about my sister. Just over 3 years ago Louise was diagnosed with breast Cancer. She immediately underwent a programme of chemotherapy, and then had a mastectomy and radiotherapy. It didn’t work and subsequently she was diagnosed with secondaries. Louise now acknowledges that she will not be cured but we continue to hope it can be controlled. I have been down to visit Lou these last few days and built her a patio as her birthday present. The fact that Louise recognises that she will no longer be able to tend her garden as she used to is indicative of the stage she is at but the conservatory and patio will at least enable her to see the outside world and on better days be outside (thank you global warming). Here's us with our respective dogs on the newly laid patio... no comments please on the development of my pregnancy.

Louise's latest batch of chemotherapy has not worked and her liver is now being affected by the cancer. Consequently having tried in the words of her consultant "all the good drugs" Lou will have to suffer chemo drugs with the greater side effects. This starts on Wednesday for the next eighteen weeks in six three week cycles. We hope it will arrest the growth but its going to be yet another tough time for Louise and Andy. Here's hoping.