Day 47 - A message to all sponsors.

Tonight I issued a message via the justgiving.com website to all sponsors that left an email address. To those that didn't leave a contact address I'd like to, once again, thank you for your wonderful support for the Lands End to John O'Groats run. At the time of writing the total stands at a remarkable £25,503!

The vast majority of pledges have been automatically passed to the Hospice via justgiving.com. I'll be starting to collect the remaining cash next week. This should take me right up until the cheque is presented on September 27th to collect. There are quite a few people to pester!

There was an anonymous pledge of £1000 on August 10th. I have no way of thanking that kind sponsor personally but, believe me, it was appreciated and has made a huge difference to the total. If that person would like to get in touch then I'd appreciate it.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT!

New payment method added

By request from an nufc.com reader I have added a paypal option and also details on how to make payment direct to the Hospice with a cheque. Receipts detailing these payments will be sent out from the Hospice in due course.

Thanks!

Thanks ever so much to the Toon Army for the many many pledges made since the lads at nufc.com were kind enough to put my story on their site.

While I've been typing this blog entry "Roland Rigidbottom" has just made a £50 donation asking "Fifty quid on Newcastle to win the league... This is Paddypower.com isn't it?". Classic!

The fund is at £9221.50 at the time of writing. Simply amazing!

UPDATE - After a couple of overnight donations the fund has risen to £9331.50. The amount contributed by nufc.com readers is now £1892. If this isn't a good omen I don't know what is for 1892 was the year that our great club was founded. The last superb donation from Chris Wilko carried the message " NUFC to let you run round the pitch 1st home game, remember Brendan '74 Wembley ". Now that would be canny!

Wat'er generous offer!

Brilliant news to write about this evening!!! AquAid based in Washington, Tyne & Wear have donated a substantial amount of bottled water for use on the run. This means that I'm going to have a clean water supply, on tap, for the entire run.

Every bottle of water that AquAid sell carries a donation to charity. AquAid donate to two charities, Christian Aid and Pump Aid. Since 1998, AquAid have donated over 1.9 million.

Sincere thanks go to Amir Dobson and Graeme Nelson of Aquaid.

Another Fancy Dress Day Sponsor.

After 5 months of pestering, begging and pleading, the fund has now passed the £3000 mark thanks to another Fancy Dress Day deal. I'm pleased to announce that premium-orlando-villa.com have donated £100 to the fund and as a result I'll be wearing the Batman outfit a 2nd time! This will be as early as day 2 which is a tough old 27.7 miles from Whaligoe to Navidale in the far north of Scotland.

In addition to the generous £100 donation, our friends at premium-orlando-villa.com have agreed to donate 10% of any booking fees to St Benedict's Hospice when quoting "MARK ALLISON". What a very generous gesture indeed! So why not click on through to the site and have a look at the substantial villa on offer in the heart of Orlando, Florida. The huge villa (pictured) looks fantastic and is very reasonably priced. Disney attractions are only 10 minutes away. But never mind all that! The villa has a 65 inch widescreen HDTV, a heated pool and spa and a fully equipped games room! Nice!

So if you or anyone you know is thinking of renting a villa in Orlando why not give premium-orlando-villa.com some consideration. In the meantime, Mark Allison's John O'Groats to Lands End run (Day 2) will be brought to you in association with our friends at premium-orlando-villa.com.

The first "fancy dress day" snapped up already by a local company!

What a great start to the "fancy dress day" sponsorship campaign! I have sealed a deal within 1 hour of posting details of the very attractive corporate sponsorship deals I have available for this year's big run. Thankfully (for me), the naked Forth Road Bridge run still remains unsold!

I'm very pleased to announce that Newcastle based www.myspanishrentals.co.uk have pledged support if I dress up as Batman for one of the 36 days. The exact day is yet to be decided but expect something like "Mark Allison's John O'Groats to Lands End run (Day 13 - Newtown St Boswells to Catcleugh Resevouir) is brought to you in association with www.myspanishrentals.co.uk".

Now if I could only find a willing "Robin" to run with me for a day! Please get in touch at fancydress@markallison.com if you or your company are interested in sponsoring a fancy dress day.

Just 3 months left.........not time to panic (yet)!

There are less than 3 months before the big run. It's time, just for a moment, to take a step back from all the training, organising, pestering, dreaming and planning and take stock of things.

This event has presented me with 4 main challenges; organising it, training for it, sponsoring it and running it. The organisation of the run has gone almost 100% to plan so far. I haven't managed to acquire the camper van that would have solved all of my accommodation problems in one fell swoop. I have, however, managed to get some very cheap and often free "digs" with the help, imagination and generosity of colleagues and friends. So far, I've got 24 nights of "quality" accommodation. This leaves 18 nights sleeping in a tent in both the Scottish highlands and later in Devon and Cornwall. These 18 nights coincide with support from my wife and son - Katy and Jack (and not forgetting Monkey of course!). It should be an interesting family experience to say the least! My other supporters, Keith and Owen, have put their hands into their own pockets for digs. I owe them a beer or two after the run when I start drinking again (My last beer was New Year's Eve!). Speaking of support, I have all but 4 days of the run supported. I need to finalise support for these 4 days very soon or I face the prospect of running 96 miles solo! Heaven knows how that would work out.

I'm currently giving thought to the changeover arrangements needed when one supporter finishes and another starts their duties. I do feel that I'm almost there on the organisation front.

My training for the run has gone far far better than I'd expected and my fitness is probably the least area for concern. I'm running quicker than I have for a long time and further than ever before. Apart from a sore groin lasting a couple of days and a bad back caused by carrying 2 litres of water for 51 miles there's hardly been the hint of an injury. I've said it many times before and I think it is worth emphasising again. The support and encouragement from my colleagues at Northern Rock has been key to the progress I've made in training. Again, I think a few beers are in order when I return, God willing, from the south coast in August.

I set an unprecedented and very ambitious sponsorship target of £5000 for this event. At the time of writing, I've achieved 51% of that target. In my school days, that would have been enough to get you a pass in an exam. I'm after an A+ this time round and nothing less than £5000 will do for the pain I'm about to put myself through. I've still got plenty of avenues to pursue and remain ever confident of reaching this target in aid of St Benedict's Hospice.

And finally we come to actually running the thing. How on earth is a human being supposed to run that far in 6 weeks? Especially a 16 stone one! I'm resigned to the fact that it's going to hurt like mad. I'll be prepared for the pain knowing I'm backed by so many people, pledging money, for such a great cause as St Benedict's Hospice. One thing is for sure. This is a real step into the unknown for me. It doesn't compare to anything I've ran before. I could really do with something like a "Running 900 miles for Dummies" book.

Sponsorship total starting to get a bit respectable!

After nearly 3 months of harassing, pestering and begging lots of people the fund has surpassed the £2000 mark. I've found it quite difficult to devote as much time as I should in trying to get sponsorship. I've spent this lost time either training or with my family (or at the match!). So it's all a bit of a juggling act at the minute. Looking on the bright side, I think I'd be in a much worse position if I'd spent more time on sponsorship and not as much time training. My 11 mile runs home are a doddle now and the weight is starting to shift quite nicely.

In terms of devoting time to raising sponsorship, I can't see things getting any easier. I'll soon be running 50-60 miles a week and attending the gym 2 or 3 times. As it stands, if I'm going to reach the target of £5000, I'll have to think of a new approach. I need to get my thinking cap on! Any suggestions welcome!

Another sponsorship landmark acheived

There has been a flurry of pledges in the latter half of this week and the total now stands at £1807. I'm over a third of the way there now. I'm always on the lookout for new sponsors and Alan, one of the trainers at the Gateshead Marriott gym, has started to pass a sponsor form round for me. Hopefully, it will yield a few more and help me on the way to my £5000 target.

Sponsorship landmark acheived

This year's fund has passed the £1500 mark, all thanks to a few new sponsors. There is still a lot of pestering, canvassing, begging and pleading to do before I reach the magic total of £5000. I'm quietly confident of reaching that total with 4 and a half months left before the big run. The aim now is £2000 before the end of February.

It is not until you remind yourself about the services that Hospices like St Benedict's provides, that you realise how important these types of establishments are and how important the funds raised are that go to support them. They have a very informative website (http://www.hospice.co.uk/) that gives an overview of the many services offered. The following is an extract from my old website. I wrote this a few years ago but it still holds true.

The staff and services provided by St Benedict's Hospice made my Mam's final days battling cancer more dignified and taught us both how to, what she and I called, "live with cancer".

My Mam attended the day care unit at the Hospice on a weekly basis for many months. It was during this time that the assessment and management of her treatment was undertaken by the specialist Hospice staff. It was certainly a bit of respite and relief for me, knowing my Mam was in good hands for a day receiving the kind of care and attention that I know she really appreciated. She often talked about the staff as if they were a bunch of her good friends. And it was through my Mam that I got to know Anne Oliver, the fund raising co-ordinator.

My Mam was admitted to the Hospice on the 27th December 1994. She spent a week there having her medication regulated and trying to get better and returned home with a renewed confidence to battle the cancer that she had and also support me while I did my 3rd year University exams. I passed with flying colours thanks to her support.

The 20th February 1995 saw her return to the Hospice. Her condition had worsened and there she stayed until her passing away on the 9th March 1995.

I feel I owe St Benedict's Hospice a huge debt of gratitude. If I can help them, in any small way, to continue to provide the kind of services to other terminally ill people in the region, then I will. This isn't just something I intend to do for a short time. I'd like to think I'll always try and raise funds for St Benedict's Hospice. Indeed, 2004 will be the 10th year of fundraising activities. I hope, in years to come, my son Jack will also have a part to play in this. And hopefully the support of my family and friends will continue. It's their money that is going to the Hospice after all.

Northern Rock staff kick off sponsorship pledge in style

Thanks to the generosity of staff at Northern Rock, the sponsorship total has reached £1250. With the run a little over 5 months away I'm confident of reaching the target of £5000.

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A couple of people, not normally known for easily parting with cash, were very quick to sponsor me. They later added, that they probably wouldn't have to pay up since I would "probably have a heart attack" by the time I reached the Scotland/England border! Some people have no confidence!