Frequently Asked Question

A popular question along the way has been "are you doing it for charity?".  It's a fairly automatic assumption - "fat bloke doing exercise? Must be for charity" - so my answer is always "No". Doing this triathlon has never been about novelty value.  If I wanted that, sitting in a tub of beans would have been easier and more delicious. What it has been about is driving changes in my life that needed to be made.

"What would be on your bucket list?" says Emma, as we drink in the evening sun, and the Pinot, in the garden. "Where do you want to go, what do you want to experience?"

"I don't have one," I say. "If I don't believe in an afterlife, I can't believe that I'll be around in some form to regret the things I didn't do."

"But you might live that afterlife while you're still here," she says wisely, "someday it might be too late." I ponder for a minute.

"I don't think I'd have regrets about not going somewhere or doing something.  I'd regret not taking more opportunities to make life better for other people when I had the chance, because I was too lazy or too embarrassed or too afraid."

So, I can't pass up the opportunity. I hope you've enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy, these ramblings of mine. Even if you haven't, perhaps you at least appreciate my efforts to turn myself into a triathlete.  Even if, you hard-nosed bastard, you don't appreciate that, maybe you'll at least just think about how many lives are affected by the shadow of cancer (read this if it helps), and why I've decided to use this as a chance to raise money for Cancer Research.

If you're still having trouble (wtf?!), I'm going to make you a BOGOF offer. For if you help me raise over £300, I will also throw in the Pier to Pier swim the following week.  Yes folks, we're talking 1.4 miles of sea swimming.  That's three times further than I'll have to swim in the tri, and three times further than I've ever swum before in one go.  In the sea.  In a wetsuit.  I do not make this offer lightly, this is the stuff of nightmares.

From the stats, this blog has about 40 regular readers, so raising £300 should be a doddle. You can donate at JustGiving,

Thank you.