Halfway through training - 25 January 2010

As 25th January will be exactly halfway through my marathon training programme I wanted to send an update to say:

A) Thank you again to everybody who has sponsored me
And
B) To give you an update on my training progress in advance of my reaching the halfway mark in my training programme.

My first day of training back in October already feels like so long ago. At that point the most I had ever run was the occasional 20 minutes on the treadmill.

In December I was fortunate enough to go to the Terrence Higgins Trust's pre-Christmas drinks party. It's an annual event to thank individuals who have donated over £1,000 and also their top fund-raisers. I was really pleased that night to discover that I am officially THT's biggest fund-raiser. At that point donations were already at £3,500, so almost double the total amount their marathon runners usually manage to raise. I even got to meet Dannii Minogue that night, and seeing how grateful and happy the staff at THT were with my fund-raising progress made me so happy and buzzing with pride, so thank you again to everybody who has sponsored me :o)

Since then the weather has gotten increasingly worse, but I'm very pleased to say it hasn't stopped my training. As well as the occasional run home from work and regular mid-week treadmill runs, I've been fortunate enough to be able to manage most of my long runs outdoors at the weekends. It being the coldest winter in decades does add an extra level of challenge, but I always knew winter training wouldn't be easy, plus my friend Humberto has joined me on a few long runs too which makes them more bearable. My weekly Sunday run is now 7 miles, and my total mileage each week is around 18 miles. That is still increasing every week until I run the Brighton half marathon on 21st February, and will of course continue to grow each week after that until the marathon on 25th April. I'll continue to provide updates nearer the time to keep you up to date on my progress. In the meantime, if you're aware of somebody who was intending to sponsor me but hasn't gotten round to it yet, please feel free to forward this link to them and encourage them to sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/paul-raybould

I'm currently at £3,800 of sponsorship but I'm aiming for a grand total of £5,000 to make a massive difference to the Terrence Higgins Trust charity and the lives of every HIV+ person who is relying on their support. Thank you again for the sponsorship and support you have given me to help me achieve this xxx