Couch to 10k - seeking sponsorship!

Do you guys remember that I did the 10k Race for Life earlier this year?  If not, here are my blog posts about it.  I walked it, because I believed that I couldn't run.  While seeking sponsorship for it, I said that if I exceeded my target of £250 I would run it next year.

I did exceed my target.

I promised myself I would start training for a 10k run.

3 weeks ago I started the couch to 10k plan.

So far I've achieved every session, but it's bloody hard work.  To ensure that I do complete the training in time to enter the Marriotts Way 10k race, I need external pressure.

So I've decided that for every training session I complete I will donate £1 to the Abortion Support Network, who provide funds for women travelling to the mainland UK, from Ireland, for an abortion.  More on them later.  By myself, I won't be able to raise much money.  So I'm hoping that some of my readers will also sponsor me.

Why the Abortion Support Network (ASN)?

Well, they are the only organisation that provide funds for Irish women who require abortions in the UK.  The laws around abortion in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are very, very restrictive and it is really difficult to get an abortion.  So if women find themselves pregnant and require an abortion the nearest place to go is the UK.  Which means money for travel costs, accommodation and the procedure itself.

Without ASN many, many women can't afford to come to the UK - it costs between £400 and £2,000 to travel and pay for the procedure.

I know abortion is an emotive topic.  I'm not asking people to move from an anti abortion stance to a pro abortion stance.  Instead I ask that you consider that without access to abortion women, and their foetuses, will die.  Restricting abortion in law doesn't mean women have the children and live happy meaningful loving lives.  It means that women get backstreet abortions, which are downright dangerous.

There's no use in saying women shouldn't get pregnant in there the first place.  There are hundreds of reasons why women get pregnant and there are hundreds of reasons why women get abortions.  Read ASN's newsletters for stories from the women they've helped.

ASN is a charity almost entirely funded by the donations of individual supporters, and your donations will go directly to helping a woman in need.

To donate to them you can do so via paypal, standing order, or bank transfer.  Please see the donate page of the ASN website for details on how to do a bank transfer.  If you are a UK taxpayer don't forget to gift aid your donation.

So, hopefully I've explained why I choose to fundraise for ASN.  Please consider sponsoring me for the couch to 10k training.  I will write a blog on each training session so you know I've completed it.  Please then consider sponsoring me for each session, or each week's training.  I don't need to know that you've sponsored me so please don't feel pressured to make your donation public.

To start, here is  a summary of my first week's training.  I will upload summaries of week's one and two then move onto individual session reports.

Week 1 

Session 1 - 34 min. Run 1 minute. Walk 2 minutes. Do this 8 times, 8/7/2013

Holy crap that was hard.  Do you know why it was so hard?  Because I’m an idiot and I read the instructions as Run 2 minutes, Walk 1 minute.  So I only managed about 6 goes and had to walk some of the running bits.

Initially felt rather incompetent at my terrible performance, until I realised I’d done it back to front, then I felt rather proud of myself.

Session 2 - 28 min. Run 1 minute. Walk 2 minutes. Do this 6 times, 11/7/2013

Well that was much easier.  Not easy, still hard, and I was still huffy and out of breath, but this felt doable.

Session 3 - 31 min. Run 1 minute. Walk 2 minutes. Do this 7 times, 14/7/2013

Like the previous session, this felt doable and I was happy with my efforts.

Total donated: £3