Fundraising Event No.3

The final fundraiser that we have organised was a Grand National party. Richard went to Aintree for his stag, and since then we have hosted a Grand National barbecue every year. We decided to extend this to more people this year, and hence hold it in the pub as our little flat wouldn’t be able to cope with the numbers. Obviously since we weren’t having the traditional barbecue the weather was glorious!

We charged everyone £10 to attend, and that gave them an entry into the sweepstake, for which we had been donated some prizes. This meant everyone had a horse to cheer during the race, and they got something for their money as well. We had about thirty-five people there in the end, and a few more who paid and then couldn’t make it, so we raised about £400 from the ticket sales. We also got lots of entries into the ‘Guess the Finish Time’ competition.

A huge thank you has to go to The Hurlingham, who were brilliant throughout the whole thing. The room we had was perfect for the event, they were quick to offer help, and they didn’t charge us anything for the private room. There wasn’t even a minimum spend.

Thanks also to Riverford Organic and Berry Bros & Rudd for providing prizes, and finally to my family who all helped out on the day.

We also managed to get a collection at High Street Kensington tube station. Unfortunately we were allocated a Friday, with very little notice, so we weren’t able to get the day off work. Richard and I did about three hours in total though, and collected about £200, so it was definitely worth doing. It makes you wonder how well the collections at the really big stations do!

In other news this is now Marathon week! I am fully into taper now, and so just a couple of runs and a yoga session on the agenda. Other than that lots of drinking water and eating carbohydrates. It seems to have come around so quickly, but to be honest I am ready to run it now and would quite like to get it over and done with.

Motivational quote of the week: Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put in.

Fundraising Event No.2

We spent a happy afternoon in November trying to work out what to do to fundraise for the marathon. We wanted to hit some different groups of people, while giving everyone something for their money, rather than just asking for donations.

Me, my mother and Maria from Riverford

One of the ideas we came up with was a cookery demonstration. Luckily for us neighbours of my parents had fitted out the potting shed at the end of the garden with a kitchen at one end, and the space was perfect for the demo.

And so it was last Monday that we ended up with about thirty women to be shown a main course and accompaniments by my mother and puddings by me. I was completely terrified at the thought of talking to that many people, but in the end it was almost fun, and it went by very quickly.

The basis of what we cooked was seasonal fruit and vegetables. Both my mother and I are huge advocates of the organic vegetable box, which has forced us to be more creative with vegetables than we would be otherwise. My mother cooked marinated chicken with roast vegetables, butternut squash and parsnip gratin (swoon), and sauteed cabbage. I followed with an upside down rhubarb and ginger cake, and Nigella's Forgotten Pudding, with blood orange compote. We ran out of time to make the custard!

We then gave the room a quick change and everyone sat down to eat what we had cooked. It was a lot of work, more than I think we realised, but worth it in the end.

A huge thank you to:

• Riverford, who supplied the beautiful ingredients
• Berry Bros & Rudd, who did a deal on the wine (and supplied a fab prize - details to follow)
• The Windsor-Aubreys, for their lovely Potting Shed
• Felicity, for sterling work with a washing-up brush
• my family, who helped set up on Sunday and clear away

and most of all to my mother, without whom nothing would have happened.

Best run: track session with Serpentine running club. A ladder type thing - 600m, 2 x 500m, 3 x 400m, 4 x 200m, at 3k pace with 90 sec recoveries. God it was hard, but it felt good when it was finished!

Worst run: long run, Hammersmith to Kew Bridge, then to Putney Bridge and back to Hammersmith - 13.5m. I had two glasses of red wine on Friday night and felt rough on Saturday morning (I have become a lightweight!). It took about 4 miles to get into a rhythm, but after that it was OK.

Fundraising Event No.1

One of the most difficult things about fundraising has been thinking of events to do that target different groups of people. For the first event we thought we would keep it fairly low key, and so we had a drinks party for my parents village in the run up to Christmas.

Luckily it wasn't too snowy, and their very talented neighbour Juliet Howland agreed to sing.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the mulled wine and the singing, and we raised nearly £300, which is a brilliant start!

Don't forget if you want to sponsor me you can click on the link on the right.

Best run: 7 miles to Westminster Bridge and back. Weather was decent if a little windy, and it felt pretty easy

Worst run: 5 miles pace. This felt like hard work the whole way round, but I guess that is the point! Managed to average 8 minute miles though, so not too shabby.