The Barnet Eye - enjoy it while you still can !

On Sunday 10th March, I will be running 10K for Age Concern Barnet. I'm running in memory of my mum, who died in August 2008 from a massive stroke. This was the second major stroke she suffered, the first being in 2001. As a result of the experiences the family had with her care provision by Barnet council, most notably the effects of the outsourcing of the meals on wheels contract in 2007, I became aware of the huge importance of good public services. There are thousands of elderly people like my mum in Barnet who don't have family to look out for them. Age UK Barnet does what it can for them, but in these times of financial hardship they have ever more to do with less money.

I undertook to do the run and use this blog to publicise the cause, because it is such an important issue. Had my mum not survived in 2001 or not had a stroke, I may have been blissfully unaware of the issue. I spend about 17 hours a week writing and researching this blog. I decided when i took the challenge that if I didn't attract £500 in sponsorship, then it probably meant that spending this time couldn't be justified. If I couldn't persuade enough readers of the blog to stump up £500 (which is only 200 readers donating £2 each), it really wasn't worth the effort. With nine days till the event, I am £170 short of my target. If you haven't donated anything yet, and want to save the blog, please click here and show Barnet you care

https://www.justgiving.com/RogT

Thanks to everyone who has already given their support

Why you should stick your hand in your wallet and sponsor me me for the Age UK Barnet 10K run

This blog was started on Saturday 11th October 2008. Since then, I've posted 3,180 blogs. As of now, the blog has had 834,441 hits.

The thing which started me blogging about Barnet Council was the way they treated my mother in the final year of her life, with regards to the outsourcing of the meals on wheels contract. I realsied that they had no concern whatsoever about the well being of the elderly people of Barnet. There only concern was saving a bit of cash by cutting services for the people who most needed it. This was compounded in 2010 when the council caabinet voted themselves a huge rise in allowances as cuts were made almost everywhere else.

So who looks after the elderly people in Barnet who don't have children to stand up for them? There are a few charities who are doing their best in these difficult times. One such organisation is Age UK Barnet. I have decided to do a 10K run on Sunday 3rd March 2013 at Crystal Palace to raise some money for them.

You can donate to this great cause by clicking here - https://www.justgiving.com/RogT  - from my blog stats, I see that 1,000 people look at this blog every day. Times are hard but is there a reader of the Barnet Eye who genuinely couldn't afford to spare £2.00. I have set a target of raising £500. To achieve this, 250 readers of the Barnet Eye need to contribute £2.00 each towards Age UK Barnet. If there are 250 of you who care enough about the blog to contribute £2.00 and who think that the 3,180 blogs I've written have been good value for money (less than 0.2p each for all of you), then I will be forever in your gratitude and it will send a small message out that people care.

If there are not, then to be quite honest, I will have to consider whether it is worth the time I dedicate to writing this blog. So if you are one of the members of Barnet Council, who would dearly love to see the back of this blog, please tell all your friends to keep their wallets shut. If you like what you read, but are too tight to spare £2.00 (less than 15p a day between now and then) to keep the blog running, you will only have yourself to blame, if you wake up on March 4th and this blog has disappeared forever.

Of course I am sure that readers of the Barnet Eye are generous, decent people and they care passionately about looking after the people who have built this Town, this City and this Country and are now in the twilight of the their lives. That is why I'm convinced that on the 3rd March, I will be running the run, proudly representing the people of Barnet and the readers of the Barnet Eye. I will lovingly write the name of every sponsor on my shirt when I do the run, so we can all share in the achievement.

Age Concern UK - training for the 10K run - Day 2

For those of you who are interested, I am running 10K for Age Concern UK at Crystal Palace on March 10th - full details here  - http://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/events-and-challenges/10k-races/10k-race-crystal-palace/

Wanna join the team? Sign up and get in touch. The justgiving page will follow. 

I'm tracking my training and preparation here. At the weigh in on Monday I was 95 kilos (just under 15 stone). I plan to run four days a week Mon -Weds & Fri,  Sat is a rest day and Thurs & Sun I play five a side football. I will post all of my training details here as well as my progress.

Here is todays run - http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/227384560

Here is my progress - http://www.mapmyrun.com/workouts/

Today was a hard session, but actually physically easier than my session on Monday when I ran the same time and did less distance & cals (not logged). Early days, but a good start to the training. We've started recruiting other members for the team as well!

For anyone planning a run, it is good to use a tool like Mapmyrun. It helps set goals and monitor progress (maybe I'm just a nerd about such things, but it motivates me!).

If you want to join the team, email me via the link in the top right hand corner of the blog.