Just Keep Swimming

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

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!!)

Friday, 22 July 2011

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.

Thursday, 21 July 2011

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!!

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

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

Monday, 18 July 2011

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

Sunday, 17 July 2011

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.

Saturday, 16 July 2011

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

Friday, 15 July 2011

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 :-)

Thursday, 14 July 2011

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

Thank you to:

Sponsors:

Akash, Mercy, Tom, The Breezes, Bat & Steve, Carli, Anna, Zerelda, Katie, My Mum and Dad, Angharad, Jen & Justin, The Crisp Family, Harry, Rusty, Hazel, Jackie, Hugh, Ursula, Sam, The Bedford family, The Banks family, Granma and Grandad, The Westoby Family, Chris, Catherine, Christian, Anna, Danny, Will, Chris, Jenn, Roz, The drunk lady at the pub, Michael, Joe, Alice, Todd, Christian (again. He wanted more brownies), The Wright Family, Ursie again :-), Aiden, Lianne, The people of BSEAODS, The people at the Spread Eagle, The people at Abbeycroft Leisure, Bury St Edmunds, Ross, Rui & his brothers, Tahi, My Granda Peter and Marion, The Clark family, Ray, Maddy, Glasswells, Jill and Barry, Lloyd, Abi, Hannah, The Limmer Family, Cat, Ian and Jack, Jordan, Tim, Tom (again, because he thought that donating by text looked like fun!), Denny Bros, Neil, The people at the Rose and Crown, the people at Eric's Prime Cuts, The JustGivingTeam, Jackie, Megan, Ruth, Linda, Mark, British Sugar, the Gentleman I used to swim with.

Other help:

Kath and Jacqui from TAG, Jo & Tudor at the EADT, Hugh, Carli, Mum and Dad for putting up with all of my swimming talk & giving me lots of ideas (and Hugh's also made lots of phone calls for me and taken lots of pictures and made me a poster and agreed to do lots of favours, so thank you a lot :-) ). My Dad's also taken me to places he frequents (the pub and the butchers) so I can ask them to put a collecting tin on their counter/bar. Clare and Tracy who have let me put a collecting box, poster and business cards on reception at the leisure centre. Hazel who let me do the same on the bar at the Spread Eagle, and Liz at the Rose and Crown, and Jim and James at Eric's. Carli who made lots of brownies for me and then sold them, and who's also took some pictures of me and given out business cards :-) . Neil and Ant at the Spread Eagle who gave me the kick up the bum to ask all of the patrons for sponsorship. Ursie, who's been getting all of her friends (many of whom have never met me) to donate, and Carli (what would I do without my sister??) who's been doing the same, especially with BSEAODS. And also to all of the lovely people who don't know me and who haven't heard of Arthrogryposis, but still gave a few quid, and an extra special thank you to the woman who had never met me before but who gave me £20 at the pub today (18/6/11), because she didn't have anything smaller. Bat who bought me some more business cards and is just generally a wonderful godmother :-) Jackie who gave me the idea for a scrapbook. I'd never thought about it, but I think I'll appreciate it in the years to come. Jill for letting me film in a training session, Hugh, Amy, Lloyd, Chris, Jordan, Jack and David for being in my video, and Ursie for filming it. Tal at JustGiving for putting me in their blog, the judges of the JustTextGiving competition who gave me a runners-up prize, Hugh and Ursula especially, but everyone who was involved in my surprise video, party etc. (Mum, Dad, Carli, Hugh, Granma, Grandad, Ursula, Polly, Steve, Diana, Kian, Christian, Joe, Hannah, Carl, Josh, Lewis, Aiden, Hannah, Jordan, Hazel, Veronica, Jackie, Alice, chris, Tim, Tim, Tom, Chloe, George, Alison, Lloyd, Rui, Jess, Katie, Paul, Molly, George, Oscar). Everyone who was in the surprise video (Diana; My sister Carli; Poppy; the Lovely Steve; Carli; Ursula; Ian and Veronica; Hazel; Mark; Leah-cat; My Daddy Martin; My Mummy Judie; Ruth; Hugh's parents, Jill and Barry; Hugh's sister Kirsty, brother-in-law David and nephew Alistair; Chloe, Tom, Pete and Julie Bellotti; Christian; The Bury Bombers; Carl; Josh; Luke; Cat, Megan and Josh; Hugh.)

Jordy, Tim, Carli and George who joined in on my last swim.

Hugh and Ursula get a special thanks. They organised my surprise party, got a lot of people to come and watch me swim, got the Bury Free Press involved, got me a special lane in the pool and made me a surprise video. I love them both lots :-)

And also to everyone who has 'liked' my justgiving page, tweeted and facebooked about what I'm doing, shared my video, and generally helped to spread the word :-)

I'm sure there are lots of people I've forgotten. So I'm sorry if you're one of them (I also can't thank specific people who have given me money in the collecting tins as I don't know who you are). But this doesn't mean you're not appreciated. This list is expanding as I remember people. Thank you so much everyone. The response has been overwhelming.