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Jason from Mousepickle takes part in charity challenges from time to time, and is always on lookout for generous sponsors; the Reading Half Marathon, on the 20th of March 2011, posed a significant challenge!

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A day at the race

20 March, 2011: Crikey O’Reilly a half marathon seems like a very long way once you get stuck into it! Still, 2 hours 11 is a reasonable time for a first event; maybe I’ll persuade myself to have another go at this in 2012, assuming the knees (yes, the pesky knees again) recover swiftly.

The event seemed well organised (apart from some poorly-planned routes from the runners’ ‘village’ to the starting pens), with plenty of beverages along the route, a nice bag of snack bars at the end, and a chunky medal for everybody who completed the course.

Staggering across the finish line inside the stadium, in glorious sunshine and with the cheering crowd and barking PA system, was an excellent end to a pretty good run.

Unfortunately it’s now too late for you to make a donation to the NSPCC on my behalf!


Training update 3

14 March, 2011: Another bout of flu has prevented me from beating my PB at the Reading parkrun, but I’m on the mend, the weather has turned fine, and participation in the Goring 10k earlier in the month has given me a taste for competitive running. Bring on the big day!


Training update 2

17 February, 2011: This weekend will see my eleventh Reading parkrun, and my 100th mile of training. The knees are holding up pretty well, but the fundraising needs a bit of a boost; time to switch to ‘manual’ methods of sponsorship collection, rather than relying on electronic communication.

The streets of Reading are filled with more runners every evening, as the event draws nearer (there are now just 31 days to go), and the weather improves. The turnout at the parkrun seems to be rising too; that makes for a much more fun session, with some jostling for position on the approach to the finish line!


Training update 1

21 November, 2010: So far so good. Early days, but we’ve got 50 miles in the bag, and the new trainers are holding up ok.

Regular visits (despite November’s miserable weather) to the Saturday morning Reading parkrun have helped me keep my weekly mileage up, and my target completion time down. 2 hours seems achievable now, if I can keep the blisters at bay and my right knee in one piece.

From mid-December longer training runs on a Sunday should be taking over, courtesy of the local branch of Sweatshop; the first run is planned to be 6 miles or so, and will be my first significant distance covered with other runners.


Reading Half Marathon, 2011

On the 20th of March 2011 I’ll be taking part in the Reading Half Marathon, and am hoping to raise a similar amount for charity as we managed with the 2010 London to Brighton bike ride, where an amazing £1400 was collected!

The charity that I’ve chosen to run on behalf of is the excellent NSPCC, and as with previous charity events, Mousepickle Limited will be matching a large part of the sponsorship that's raised online; that means that whatever money you can spare will go even further...

If you would like to make a donation, please use the Virgin Money Giving fund raising page that’s been set up for the purpose.

Many thanks!