Day 103

After 3 months and 11 days, I've forgotten what it feels like not to ache. I've surpassed two fundraising targets and am about £100 away from my third. I've been involved in a video which came runner up in a national competition. Today I passed length 8000 and after tomorrow I'll have less than 1000 to go. It's almost over. Please help me reach £1500 for a charity very, very close to my heart by sponsoring me at www.justgiving.com/Alex-McCourt1. You can also support me for my last half-mile on Friday 23rd September at 4pm at Abbeycroft Leisure Centre, Bury St Edmunds.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, be it emotionally or with donations or even both. I can't thank everyone enough.

8142 down, 1064 to go.

The Real Day 101

I did 140 this morning. I'm feeling very run down so I don't really have much else to say. I don't know about a swim tomorrow. I can afford one day off between now and the end and I need sleep. I'm going to talk to my mummy. 7852 down, 1354 to go

So, what were we saying about me being bad at maths? Turns out today is day 100, not day 101!!!

Day 101

I did 100 today. As I'm reaching the end of my swim, I decided to check my maths, and as you may know, I'm not that great at it (see here, here and here). So I have a spreadsheet to help me. Today I checked my spreadsheet and it seems I have done almost 300 more than I thought. Now, as I'm doing this for charity and everyone has been very generous, I don't want to end up not doing the full distance that everyone has sponsored me to do. So I got my mummy, who is an accountant (selfishly didn't pass on the maths-genes to me!). she checked the formulas on the spreadsheet, and the number that it had said I'd done compared to the number I'd said on the blog that I'd done. She found that all of the numbers agree until the 27th August, at which point I seem to forget a few days' worth of lengths on the blog. From the 29th August until today, there is an almost 300 length difference every day between the blog-length and the spreadsheet-length, the same number every day. So, I actually have less than 1500 lengths to do in the next 12 days!!! I'm glad that, for once, my mistake is going in my favour. It's a great boost. 7712 down, 1494 to go

Day 100

Bloody hell; day 100. 100 days of this. I must be mad!! I did 150 today and 150 yesterday. I now have less than 2000 lengths to go!! Below are the new videos that Ursie made for me. A longer bombers one and an interview with me. 7362 down, 1844 to go.

Update: did 30 this evening. Ursula has finished the videos that she was doing and they are up on YouTube. I'll post them up here next time I'm on a computer.

7062 down, 2144 to go.

Day 98

Did 150 this morning in swim #1. Shall be back in the pool a bit later to do swim #2. It was very hard earlier as I was very stiff after last night but I shall cope!

I haven't managed to embed the new video as I can't find it on YouTube, but I've asked ursula where she's put it and I'll get it up here soon.

7032 down, 2174 to go.

Day 97

Did 150 this evening.

Ursula made another video for me. I'll post it on here for you all to watch tomorrow. She's currently in the process of doing a third that's a bit more swimming related.

Thank you Ursie :-)

6882 down, 2324 to go

I've not got much to say, just been ploughing away at the lengths over the last few days.

Thank you to Jackie who sponsored me on Wednesday :-)

6732 down, 2474 to go

I CAME RUNNER-UP IN THE JUSTTEXTGIVING COMPETITION!!! (Day 90)

130 today, but that's not the big news.

I have won a £200 donation to my fundraising efforts with the video which Ursie made and the Bombers starred in (lets not beat around the bush here, I basically got in the way and agreed with everyone else's suggestions. I'm not particularly creative.)

This video, in case you'd forgotten.


So it didn't get the most views (and I was never really expecting it to, as I entered the competition late and the winning entry got over 5000 views, compared to my 301). But there were two runners up prizes, each winning a donation of £200, which were judged by people from the world of philanthropy, and my video was one of them.

Hugh was on justgiving-watch today, as I was at work and so couldn't check my emails. When I got off shift to see that I had 9 missed calls from him, I immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion (me being my mother's daughter), and I decided that he'd been in a car crash at the paramedics were trying to get hold of me. Thankfully not :-)

So thank you very, very much to my award winning director, Ursie, as well as all of the Bombers (and not forgetting Hugh's mum and Bombers coach, Jill) who took part in the video and have supported me throughout. And especially Hugh who is my support group.

The email which JustGiving sent wasn't just to me, so I have attached it below so that everyone can read :-)

Hi Alex and the Bury Bombers Wheelchair Basketball Club,

Just wanted to congratulate you on being runners-up in the JustTextGiving video competition! Our judges loved the quality and originality of your video entry, which has earned TAG a £200 donation from us!

I’ve also put up a blog post about the winners and added some tips for video fundraising, from our competition judges.

http://blog.justgiving.com/community/justtextgiving-video-competition-winners/

Take care, and well done. Your efforts clearly paid off :)

Cheers,

Tal

The video also gets a special mention in the blog in the judges' tips for video fundraising.


Ross McCulloch: “Involve your beneficiaries where possible, it’s why the wheelchair basketball one worked so well.”

6137 down, 3069 to go.