Day 54

Disappointingly, I only did 22 today. I got a really awful cramp in my shoulder.

I'm particularly annoyed because I'm less than 300 lengths away from halfway, so I was hoping to get a chunk of those out the way today so that I can be halfway tomorrow, but I don't think that that will be the case.

Days 50-53

Sorry for the silence over the past few days, I've been really busy.
I did 80 lengths on saturday, 100 after work on Sunday, 110 yesterday evening and 120 before work this morning. Todd joked that I should just move in to the leisure centre and I must say that I agree with him!!

Thank you to the Limmer family who sponsored me on Sunday. I'm now approaching £1100 :-D

4230 down, 4976 to go (approaching halfway!!)

Day 49.

130 today.

Please can you sponsor me if you haven't already. You can do it online at www.justgiving.com/Alex-mccourt1 or on your mobile by texting LEXY91 £5 (or any amount up to £10) to 70070. The text itself is free and 100% of the money goes straight to my justgiving total.

Thank you.

3820 down, 5386 to go.

Day 47

I did 120 today. It hurt, but it felt good in that I felt one with the water, which I haven't felt in a while.

Not much else to say, except for the bit about justgiving below.

3690 down, 5246 to go.

I'm on the front page of the Just Giving blog!!!

There's also an article about what I'm doing, which I have copied and pasted below

Shooting for the target

Last month, we launched our JustTextGiving video competition asking you to send us a video of innovative and fun ways to fundraise with your JustTextGiving code. The video with the most views by Tuesday 23rd August gets a whopping £500 donation to their page! Plus, two runners up (who will be decided by a panel of judges) will each get a £200 donation.

As we continue to share with you all of the fantastic entries we’ve had so far, today’s offering comes from Alex. It would seem that whatever Alex lacks in basketball skills, she certainly makes up for in choreography skills if this video is anything to go by. Her video features The Bury Bombers Wheelchair Basketball Club not only show off their skills on the court, but also giving Alex’s text code a little bit of love and exposure with this great routine.

You can check out the video below and if you want to increase Alex’s chance of getting a £500 donation to her fundraising page for The Arthrogryposis Group, share it with your friends and family. Also, if you’d like to show Alex your support, you can text LEXY91 £5 (or any amount up to £10) to 70070 or check out her page at http://www.justgiving.com/alex-mccourt1

——————-

My name is Alex and I’m a student at Keele, as well as a lifeguard and bartender.

I am doing a sponsored swim to raise money for The Arthrogryposis Group, a charity which helps individuals with Arthrogryposis, like my boyfriend. He plays wheelchair basketball, which is more fun to watch than someone swimming up and down, hence my decision to base my video on this sport rather than swimming!

The video itself took us an hour to shoot and an hour to edit and I am mostly using social networks, predominately Facebook and Twitter to promote it.

I have been impressed by the ease of fundraising with the JustGiving resources. Of course the task has been challenging, and JustGiving has made it that little bit easier. Creating the video has been really fun and is a great way to promote what I’m doing, with the added bonus of a possibility of winning a £500 donation. I’ve been involved in lots of fundraising over the years and JustGiving makes it so much easier!!

Day 46

I did 110 today. None yesterday as I wasn't feeling well and felt I needed a day off. It's getting really hard at the moment because I've been swimming for so long and it feels like I'm getting no-where (technically i'm not. I swim in a pool. I just go up and down and up and down!) but my point is that I'm not even halfway yet. But I should be there in not too long. Before I go on holiday in two and a half weeks I hope!

3570 down, 5636 to go

Day 44(?)

Did 150 today and it's really hurting. Good-hurt. I like to challenge myself. But it was difficult as I had to do it in two chunks, with work in between. Psychologically it is very hard to get the motivation to get back in for the second time

Tom sponsored me again because he was drunk and figured that donating by text looked like fun. It is. You should try it. Text LEXY91 £1 to 70070. Thank you :-)


3460 down, 5746 to go

Days 42 & 43

I did 140 today and 130 yesterday. It's really hurting but it'll all be worth it. Thank you to Cat, tim and Jordy who sponsored me today and Ian and jack who sponsored me yesterday :-)
3310 down, 5896 to go.

Mummy knows best

So as you know I was aiming for 200 last night. Mum suggested that rather than doubling my lengths straight out, I build it up, but I thought I'd be fine.

I was wrong. I only managed 120 last night and I'm really aching this morning. Like mum suggested, I shall build it up to 200, rather than just expect to be abled to do it right away

3040 down, 6166 to go

I'm bad at maths.

So somewhere along the lines I've missed out a day in my blog numbering... I'm actually on day 42, and yesterday was day 41 etc.

I'm not very good at maths.

I've also realised that I'm a bit lot behind on my lengths. I'm averaging 71 a day, which is low, but would be alright if I wasn't having a week off on holiday (there seems to be no pool in the town where we're staying in France, otherwise I would swim).

So I shall be upping the lengths over the next 3 weeks. Ideally I'd like to have done the holiday's lengths before I go, but even just being back on track will be good. If I want the former, I shall need to average 210 lengths a day (5.25km, 3.25 miles). If I want the latter, I only need to average 160 (4km, 2.5 miles). I have a feeling it will be somewhere between the two.

Thank you to Hannah who sponsored me the other day. I've now upped my target to £1,250. Please can you sponsor me? You can do it online at http://www.justgiving.com/Alex-McCourt1, or by texting LEXY91 £1/£2/£3/£5/£10 to 70070.

You can also support me without spending any money  by watching my video. This is an entry for the JustTextGiving competition. If my video gets the most views, I shall win a £500 donation. Please share it with all of your friends.



Thank you :-)

Day 40

So I did 100 lengths today.
It was good to have a few days off and have fun with Abi.
I got a letter from British sugar today saying they'll sponsor me in the autumn :-)
I also got an email from Tal at justgiving. They love my video and their going to do a blog about what I'm doing.
And I was in the TAG magazine this month. I'll scan it in maybe tomorrow.

3000 down, 5206 to go

Day 37

I did 80 this morning. Planned to do 100 but I seem to be getting slower and had to dash for a train.

I went to London today to meet my Abi-friend. She's now over to visit for a few days so I shan't be swimming.

She also sponsored me so I've raised over £1000! Thank you :-)

Day 36

So I did manage a swim after all today. 60 lengths. It's a bonus :-)
Thank you to the Banks family who gave me their change jar :-)

Day 35

Ermm... so I forgot to swim today. I was meaning to, but the pool closed at 5 and I only noticed the time at 4:40. Opps!!

I'm also having tomorrow off as I'm working the whole time the pool is open.

Days 33 & 34

There's not that much to talk about which is why I'm not blogging every day at the moment. I'm trying to calm down the fundraising a little now and concentrate on the swimming.

I finished work late yesterday and so didn't get to the pool until 9:40, but managed to do 30 lengths, which is better than nothing. I did 100 today as well, so it's all good :-)

I sent Carli and Ursie to the Bombers yesterday while I was at work to sell some brownies. I opened up the collecting tin today and there was £18.10 in there, so thank you to Carli and Ursie and thank you to all of the Bury Bombers :-)

I also brought home the collecting tin at the Rose and Crown. There was £27.45 in there. So thank you to everyone :-)

So, this means that I have actually broken my target this time!! It's fantastic and I'm really pleased. I'm also only £40 away from the grand-mark, so I'm really pleased :-)

Please will you sponsor me if you haven't already? You can do it online at http://www.justgiving.com/Alex-McCourt1 or by texting LEXY91 £5 to 70070.

You can also support me by watching the youtube video which Ursie and I made (with help from the Bombers again). It's my entry for the JustTextGiving competition, and the video with the most views on the 23rd July wins a £500 donation, so it is a way of supporting me without spending money. Please watch it as much as you can without getting sick of it and share it with your friends. Thank you :-)

2760 down, 5446 to go

Day 32

So this is the blog for yesterday, but by the time I got home, the internet had been turned off, so I am writing it this morning.

I have a few pieces of news today. Firstly, I passed my first year at university and can now go on to my second!! I'm really chuffed.

Secondly, out video entry for the justtextgiving competition is done and up on Youtube. You can watch it here. If my video gets the most views by July 23rd then I win a £500 donation for TAG, so please share this with everyone!



Thank you to the Bury Bombers for participating, Jill their coach for letting me hijack a session and Ursie for filming.

This video doesn't show quite how fab the bombers actually are, so once the competition is over, Ursie and I shall be making a longer video with all their impressive bits :-)

I did 80 lengths last night and boy did it hurt. I got in right after Staff Training, where we'd had to tread water for like a week non-stop, and then we had to swim about a mile underwater. Tough stuff.

2630 down, 6576 to go.

Days 30 and 31

So I'm not being as good as I used to be with keeping this up to date. I promise I'll get better.

I did 80 yesterday. My shoulders were hurting because of the wheelchair basketball, but apart from that, it was good.

Did 100 today. Could have done more, but Luke, Christian and I decided to do time-trials (they're bad influences on me!)

Thank you to Luke for carrying my change jar into town today. It's been deposited in my bank and I shal be writing a cheque this evening.

I'm also going to be filming my advert for the justtextgiving competition tonight. Watch out as I'll post the finished product on here as soon as it's done :-)

2550 down, 6656 to go.

Embarrassing confession time

So I miscounted the donations. I'm actually £12 away from my target. Please will you sponsor me? You can do it at http://www.justgiving.com/Alex-McCourt1, or by texting LEXY91 £10 to 70070.

Days 28 and 29

No swimming this weekend. The pool was closed today and I was at the Bury Bombers Basketball Marathon all weekend. It was lots of fun and I sold lots of brownies (which involved making some at 1am this morning!)

I'm going to take my offline donations into the bank to be counted at some point. This will be embarrassing if I miscounted and haven't actually reached my target yet!!

Thank you to Mr Lloyd who sponsored me today :-)

Day 27

I'VE REACHED MY TARGET!!! I'VE RAISED £956.88 SO FAR!!!

Thank you to Jill and Barry, Hugh's parents, who sponsored me today. I also realised that I forgot to thank my Auntie Ron and her family who sponsored me during the week.

I did my 100 today. It was sore, but I'm getting fitter.

The pool is closed this weekend, and I'm selling brownies to raise money for the Bury Bombers, the wheelchair basketball club that Hugh is a part of. I shall also be playing basketball. It should be interesting!

2370 down, 6836 to go.

I got some letters :-)

I'm now less than £100 away from my goal!!!

Thank you to Ray again, and thank you to Glasswells :-)