why?
Now i know that:
a) This would be rediculously hard
b) I would have to actually train, and probably wouldn't
c) I would hate every minutebut...
I still have a real urge to do this and know it would be fantastic.
YOU CAN SPONSOR ME FOR THE 2007 LONDON MARTHON HERE
done?
Yes! But only just. I started off my training in typical gung-ho fashion, but I got a bit bored of training by February, and was in worse shape in the March than I was in the December when I started my training. As the marathon was in April this was not a good sign.
The big day in April 2007 arrived and I was slightly nervous to say the least. I donned my Middlesbrough shirt and set off. Em Led helped out by writing 'John / Beforethirty.co.uk' and "I've got manbreasts please cheer me" on the shirt.
Here I am looking surprisingly chirpy at around mile 23. The delirium may have set in though, as I appear to be giving Em Led the 'Paul McCartney Thumbs-Up' (TM) which is not a normal pose for me.
I actually managed to get around the course in a rather pathetic time of around 5:30, which isn't very good. I look very composed in this picture, but after a drink and a bit of a lie down I had a good vomiting session. Lovely.
So that's another task done, but the very cool thing about this task was the fantastic amount of money raised for Breast Cancer Care. All in all, a total of...
That's correct, £3,666!! And if you include the gift-aid tax scam thingy, this amounts to over £4,500. I could never have raise this much from family and friends alone, and I had lots of donations from random website vistitors and football fans, especially those from Teeside.
A very, very special mention goes to a certain friend of my Mum who donated £1,000 of her own money. Thank you so much.
A full list of donators are below, thanks to all of you.
Solihull Supporter 31/12/2007 £1,000.00 Well done! A good cause to support Justin Houlihan 13/12/2007 £10.00 Great work - Mr Gibson proved himself to be a bit of a legend! Bryan Mycock 28/11/2007 £3.00 Ian Collings 22/11/2007 £10.00 From an Ipswich Town fan - the best of luck - c'mon you Reds James Godfrey 22/11/2007 £10.00 All the best, very impressed with the application and Steve Gibson's response! boney 13/11/2007 £5.00 Russ Horne 02/11/2007 £20.00 Great Stuff John - if you top this one before ur 30. Let me know Mark O'Rourke (complete stranger) 02/11/2007 £20.00 You made me piss my pants this is what football should be all about! Good luck with the fundraising. AJ 26/10/2007 £20.00 Fantastic work - keep it up. Maybe see you on the GNR next year. Hawks 24/10/2007 £10.00 fair play to ya horse.good work and all the george (best) Rich Platt 15/10/2007 £5.00 A fellow Liverpool fan, but love the cheek of your letters, it made me smile and such a good cause Michael Green 11/10/2007 £5.00 Great letter exchange with Steve Gibson Graham Last 10/10/2007 £5.00 As a supporter of the now managerless Norwich I suggest youget your application in quick. Chris Winstanley 10/10/2007 £5.00 Absolute quality penkitten66 20/09/2007 £10.00 genius!... Muireann 14/09/2007 £20.00 TM 13/09/2007 £3.00 For Brass neck Mark Briggs 31/08/2007 £5.00 Thanks - it was an enjoyable read during my lunch hour! KP 27/08/2007 £30.00 Jonathan Rowney 25/08/2007 £11.00 Good story! Good cause! The power of email/internet to help people find out months after the origina Ian Sharpe 21/08/2007 £3.00 Good Luck with the run. :) Mrs Lilian Bradley 21/08/2007 £10.00 I know how important this fund raising is, so well done you. James Wright 15/08/2007 £10.00 Nice work! made me laugh loads keep up the good work andy r 27/07/2007 £10.00 John, lovely story and fair play to Steve Gibson at Middlesborough - class act! Good cause as well. Sandra's mom 25/07/2007 £5.00 Good luck John! Andrew Potter 16/07/2007 £10.00 A fantastic story, and I'm thrilled you found a way to help this charity through it. God bless you! planetsmid 20/06/2007 £10.00 very funny story :-) good on steve gibson for being such a sport too. Chris Armstrong 02/06/2007 £16.49 Nice work fella, a really funny site with a noble cause! Paul 21/05/2007 £5.00 kiruji 16/05/2007 £5.00 Middlesborough story made me chuckle enough for a fiver... Steve Gibson seems to be a dude! Chris Jones 16/05/2007 £10.00 The Boro story was hilarious - worth a tenner to read. And what a guy Steve Gibson is! Ellie C. 14/05/2007 £10.00 The story of your application to become Boro manager is so funny, I just can't stop laughing! The Cooley's 12/05/2007 £10.00 Well Done. We will think of you over the 22 miles of the bridgnorth walk :) johnmmcparland 11/05/2007 £5.00 I'm (another) FM fan who thought your application to Middlesborough was a brilliant read- well done Beno 08/05/2007 £5.00 From a random Everton fan (and fellow football manager legend!). Well Done! Aberdeen Fan 04/05/2007 £10.00 I just read the story on your website and it had me chuckling for a while, you're a top man! Jon Southgate 04/05/2007 £20.00 Damien Biggs 04/05/2007 £10.00 Well done for running the marathon. Liked the emails! From an Arsenal fan. Ann (Nick's Mum) 02/05/2007 £20.00 You are brave to do this John! janice24166 02/05/2007 £20.00 best of luck with this anonymous 02/05/2007 £3.00 Smifter 01/05/2007 £5.00 Well done, hope your were wearing your Boro Shirt, from a Boro Fan anon 30/04/2007 £5.00 Judy Williams 30/04/2007 £10.00 Go Scum, go!!! Lyn Bailey 27/04/2007 £10.00 Well done John. Your mum and I have become good friends. Luscious Babes Rule! (Ask your mom!) Catherine Abell 27/04/2007 £10.00 My pleasure to contribute to such a good cause Anita and Tom Farren 27/04/2007 £20.00 Well done John. Keep up the good work!! mark evens 26/04/2007 £5.00 Tricia & Steve 26/04/2007 £50.00 Well done John! A fantastic achievement and it was so hot too. From Mary and Ian Rendell 25/04/2007 £5.00 Well done John Sue Hammond 25/04/2007 £5.00 Your Mum is a constant inspiration to me. Well done at the weekend. Atherstone A Team 25/04/2007 £15.00 On behalf of Sandra, Chris and Phil and collected at Phils retirement meal Norwich Matt 24/04/2007 £10.00 Philippa Jones 24/04/2007 £30.00 on behalf of Stephanie Hinton Alan Y 23/04/2007 £50.00 Bit late for the marathon but I promised Steph I would sponsor you so well done! Colleagues at Bushey Fields Hospital 23/04/2007 £80.00 Fantastic effort and good time too Villagers and Easter Egg Hunters 23/04/2007 £147.00 Well with the run and the fund raising, we know how hard that is. Mavis Sinclair aka rozi 22/04/2007 £10.00 Just had another look at your site as today's the day, hope the lad in Boro shirt is doing ok! Freddy 22/04/2007 £5.00 Your letter (and Steve Gibson's) were great laughs, best of luck on the run! Becky Jukes 21/04/2007 £20.00 good luck john! John Bailey 21/04/2007 £20.00 Good effort, so you're gonna be dressed as a man on a stretcher?? Carys 20/04/2007 £5.00 Good Luck!! Hope to see some updates on the site soon! Aveen Linden 19/04/2007 £3.00 Good luck for Sunday and hope you get the Middlesborough job in the future! Su 19/04/2007 £5.00 Good luck on Sunday. Great website. Very good cause. Mrs Mary Rock 19/04/2007 £20.00 All the best with your efforts Neil Andrew 18/04/2007 £5.00 Jade (claires offspring) 18/04/2007 £15.00 Good luck John and thanks for my guitar!! Charlie 17/04/2007 £3.00 I love your website, thanks for the laughs. Good Luck xx judith round 16/04/2007 £5.00 well done! Bristol Rovers Fan & FM07 Addict 16/04/2007 £2.00 Good effort mate Chris.t 13/04/2007 £5.00 Top drawer stuff, good luck Luigi Colombo 11/04/2007 £20.00 Good Luck! Peter Taheri 09/04/2007 £3.00 Your Gibson correspondence was genius! Good luck with the marathon! Big respect, from an Arsenal fan Rob 09/04/2007 £3.50 Good luck, from a fellow football fan, football manager player and cancer aware person Joanne Rushforth 08/04/2007 £10.00 Good Luck John, hope the training is going well. the cat 07/04/2007 £10.00 Loving your work. Great entertainment and an even better cause - well done mate (and Steve Gibson) Sandra & Bob Thursfield 02/04/2007 £20.00 Good luck for the Marathon John - yu can do it! I & B 22/03/2007 £20.00 From I & B, supporters in Solihull www.23sweetFAs.com 21/03/2007 £5.00 Great work. It's always worth a letter... Steve Gibson, fair play. Uncle Alby 24/02/2007 £20.00 Well done John-Running is easier than Golf believe me Brian 20/02/2007 £20.00 After all the laughs I got from reading the site I had to make a donation. Best of luck with the run Ian McIntyre 15/02/2007 £10.00 Hope your Mum is OK Anonymous 14/02/2007 £10.00 Wouldn't the world would be a better place if more people made as much effort?...good luck! boro granny 02/02/2007 £10.00 do the shirt proud! Padraig McCloskey 02/02/2007 £10.00 read the dialogue with 'boro and had to give, keep up the good work. Stewart 01/02/2007 £5.00 For your blinkin' cheek. Good luck - Boro Fan raglasher 01/02/2007 £10.00 Boro supporter Ben Walton 01/02/2007 £23.47 Boro fan in Bermuda. Good luck in the Marathon. Good work!! JohnnyBoy 01/02/2007 £20.00 Phil Anderson 01/02/2007 £20.00 Good luck with the run, and keep up the goodwork Gina Reid 31/01/2007 £10.00 Zoe Wragg 17/01/2007 £20.00 Good Luck with the Marathon (I work at the Register Office)) Kath 28/12/2006 £40.00 Your doing a great job well done! Sky Blue Gav 19/12/2006 £3.00 Well done. Steve gibson seems a good bloke and its about time fans got some money back from our game iceman 18/12/2006 £5.00 Mr Gibson is a true legend and the story behind your link up is worth £5 of everyones money. Dave Holmes 15/12/2006 £5.00 jastie 13/12/2006 £2.00 Joe Boyle 13/12/2006 £5.00 Nick Miller 13/12/2006 £10.00 BORO supporter from the Boy's End to Europe. Steve G is wonderful. Good Luck 2 u. Mavis Sinclair 13/12/2006 £20.00 Good luck with your fund raising for such a great cause. Keep on Running! borobadge 12/12/2006 £10.00 danger..an artist is at work !..well done, drink plenty of fluids and train hard. Joseph 08/12/2006 £11.00 good work lad... James Blunt 25/11/2006 £10.00 Better stop playing chess and get RUNNING!! juzza76 20/11/2006 £2.00 Good work mate WillSamuel 20/11/2006 £7.54 I enjoy the website, and thought I'd do my bit. Good luck! Bill Craven 17/11/2006 £5.00 Well Done !! Gareth Southgate (just kidding!) 10/11/2006 £2.00 Good work mate! Middlesbrough is the best club ever! Bon chance for the marathon Fran 06/11/2006 £100.00 Just been reminded of your site. Good luck in the marathon. Steve Hall 28/10/2006 £5.00 Great story, made me laugh out loud! James 23/10/2006 £2.00 good luck with the run and the rest of the list. MattRead 21/10/2006 £2.00 gl 20/10/2006 £2.00 Good luck and god bless John Bailey 19/10/2006 £25.00 something for the weekend (when you're running that is!) Ian Readman 16/10/2006 £10.00 Arif 15/10/2006 £5.00 Nice idea! Good luck! ongengwai 14/10/2006 £2.00 http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~kritip/managers%20job.htm Mark L 14/10/2006 £5.00 Great idea, best of luck. GeordieMessiah 14/10/2006 £10.00 Best of luck with all your beforethirty endeavours! Boro Manager letter was brilliant - well done! GuyHW 14/10/2006 £10.00 Good luck mate Joe King 14/10/2006 £5.00 Great idea, great cause AlisonW 13/10/2006 £5.00 Craig Smith 13/10/2006 £10.00 excellent work with the Gibbo letters, now get on with the rest of the tasks rozi 13/10/2006 £20.00 Good luck, glad Boro have helped, no wonder our Stevie G is god!! Oddvar Roste 13/10/2006 £5.00 Keep up the good work! Greetings from Norway borowally 12/10/2006 £5.00 Next Boro Manager, Why not !! Jennifer Blair 29/08/2006 £5.00 Best of luck & great website! ddfla 23/08/2006 £10.00 At www.travelerstogo.com we're watching your progress. Go John! WynterStorm 23/08/2006 £10.00 Found your site really interesting. GOOD LUCK FROM MONTREAL,CANADA!
