Borat fancy dress day sold for £300!!

Good news and bad news! The good news is that I get to wear something other than a Batman outfit on the big run. The bad news is that it's the Borat bikini. Even worse news - my sponsors have instructed me to wear it on the day that I run through Edinburgh City Centre!!!!!

Colleagues, Paul Jackson (33) and Michael Dunn (34) have begged, stolen and borrowed to come up with the necessary £300 sponsorship money. They have chosen day 11, of the run, as the day that I wear the skimpy little lime green number. That is the 24.7 mile section from the start of the Forth Road Bridge, through Edinburgh City Centre and then onto Middleton

At the press conference today, Paul commented "This is just our way of giving something back to the community!". Michael added "I just hope that bit of green string has been stress tested! It would be an unlucky day for the people of Edinburgh if Mark "popped out" while pounding up the Royal Mile".

Pictured are Paul and Michael fighting over who was going to try the outfit on first.

Expect photos on the day if I can manage to beat the Scottish lassies off! That's the female "lassie" and not the dog variety by the way.

In the meantime, I'll need to check if there any local by-laws in Edinburgh regarding semi naked fat blokes wearing lime green bikinis. Anne Oliver, the fundraising coordinator's final words to me last week were "Do not bring the Hospice into disrepute!". Don't worry Anne. I'll tell the Constable that I'm running for St Oswalds!

Fitness test proves hard work is paying off.

I had my 3rd fitness assessment in 6 months this afternoon with some pleasing but totally expected results. It turns out that I'm a stone lighter and have 9% less body fat since October last year.

As you would expect with all the training this year, the various scientific read outs for my lung and cardiovascular functions showed the biggest improvements. I had previously registered an "above average" in these areas. The print out at the end said "good" with noticeable increases across the board. I even broke my own most press ups in a minute record of 11 with a staggering total of 18!!!! Get in there!!!! I could only manage 5 last October.

My next scheduled fitness assessments are July 5th and then at the end of August just days either side of the big run. I should be down to a double size zero by then!! Normal size zero is so last season! Anyhow, pictured is me with a few friends from the gym celebrating the good news.