super generic girl

the awesomely average life of a girl like all others

Tag Archives: fundraising


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Amazing people doing amazing things – the Mike Allsop edition

mikeallsop

I just wanted to give you  a heads up that when it gets to Monday, February 18, and you tell everyone at work you’ve got Mondayitis and Monday sucks and the day is dragging on, your day won’t be more exhausting than Mike Allsop’s day.

And when it gets to Wednesday, February 20, and you’re all like “hump day, yay!” and “roll on Friday!” and stuff like that, your week still won’t have been as exhausting as Mike Allsop’s.

And when you get to Friday, February 22, and you’re all “I’ve earned this beer!” at Friday drinks with your workmates, you will not have earned that beer more than Mike Allsop’s.

So, 32 days from now, when you wake up and your eyes feel heavy and your bed feels too comfortable to leave, think about Mike Allsop and life won’t feel so exhausting anymore. He’ll be out of bed, running a marathon on the Falkland Islands. One of the seven marathons he will complete in seven different continents in just seven days.

Seven marathons. Seven continents. Seven days.

It’s as insane as it is inspiring (and if you’re a runner, a marathon in each continent is pretty much the ultimate item on your bucket list). On top of that, he’s doing it for a good cause, to raise money for KidsCan. Mike is aiming to raise $10,000 for the charity so, if you have a dollar or ten weighing in your pocket, drop it here.

He is no stranger to big adventures but the 777project will be his biggest challenge to date (and I’m not entirely sure how he’s going to top this one). In an estimated 7 days and 20 hours, he will fly all over the world and run marathons in: Antarctica (Falkland Islands), Chile (South America), Los Angeles (North America), London (Europe), Casablanca (Africa), Hong Kong (Asia), and finally Auckland (Australasia). I got tired just from typing this paragraph.

Mike has his itinerary online with the start times of each marathon so, if you are in any of these areas, maybe go hand him a drink and tell him he’s awesome.

***

Photo shamelessly stolen from the 777project Facebook page.

Previous instances of amazing people doing amazing things included Kim Allan’s 500k run/walk without sleep attempt and Michael Stewart’s 500th marathon.


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Amazing people doing amazing things – the Kim Allan edition

Are you ready to feel like a lazy unhelpful uncaring slob? Read on then.

Kim Allan, an Auckland mum, will run/walk 500k continuously, without any sleep, around the Auckland Domain.

You know how sometimes you get in the car and drive because that convenience store located 1km away from home just isn’t convenient enough to walk to? Now think that, times 500.

Did you hear that? That was the sound of all my excuses to avoid the gym being flushed down the toilet.

If attempting to run/walk 500k without sleep didn’t automatically place Kim in the “amazing humans” category, the fact that she is doing this to raise funds for the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Trust and the New Zealand Spinal Trust grants her an immediate spot in heaven right next to whichever god you think is the most powerful.

“This will be a huge challenge, not only physically but mentally and there are days I simply can’t get my head around being awake for that length of time. But in the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘It always seems impossible until it is done’,” she says in a press release. Kim expects the whole ordeal adventure to take 4 days, during which she will not sleep or rest for any significant period of time.

More from the press release:

Kim, 47 and from Tuakau, first decided to take up ultra-distance events as a way to encourage her four children to stay committed and work through hard times. Her son, Ben, now laughingly points out “Ok Mum, you’ve made your point”.

Having competed in several ultra-events, including the Oxfam Trail Walker and the NZ 24 hour race, Kim decided to attempt something that would provide the ‘ultimate challenge’. She admits there is no guarantee that she can actually do it so the challenge is very real.

Because Kim will not be able to sleep during her attempt she needs encouragement to keep going and the public are invited to come to the Domain from Thurs 22 through to Sunday 25 November to cheer her on. On Thursday Kim will be joined by a group of young people taking part in the first Blue Light International Youth Leadership Program. These young people will join Kim for several laps of the Domain.

Kim hopes to beat the record set by Pam Reed, the American Ultra Runner, who completed 486km in just over 80 hours. Kim’s Blue Light 500kms/0hrs Sleep challenge will mean completing 332 laps around the Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile. Kim points out that the time is not important, it’s the distance she is aiming to cover that will break the record. However, the sooner she gets it done the quicker she can get to sleep.

To raise additional funds, Kim is auctioning an entry package to the Tarawera Ultramarathon (which also comes with accommodation at the Holiday Inn, shoes and other running gear, a training programme and a subscription to Runner’s World magazine, a package worth over $1500).

If you’d like to contribute to Kim’s fundraising efforts, click here. You can also follow Kim’s amazing effort by liking her Facebook page and maybe even join her for a lap or ten of the Auckland Domain, from 9am November 22.

Image credit: Kim Allan’s Blue Light 500km/0hrs sleep, in aid of The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust Facebook page.


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people are awesome

Will you just check out that fully-coloured progress bar?

Three weeks after starting our fundraising mission for KidsCan, and one week before the big day, we reached our $1000 target! I am super thankful to everyone who has contributed and will be thinking of them and their support when I’m out on that trail feeling like giving up. So thanks all for being amazing and helping us out. The fundraising page will be up for another couple of days so if anyone is keen to take us over our goal, that’d be awesome-times-infinity, of course. In any case, one of the beers I’ll have right after the run this coming Saturday will definitely be for all of you who’ve donated.


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every kilometer counts and so does every dollar

While out in the Waitakere wilderness on Wednesday (aren’t alliterations just so much fun? No? Ok then), S. and I talked a lot about how motivation plays a big part in getting ready for what will be the biggest challenge of our lives so far. Sure, our bodies need to be fit, but a big part of it (maybe the biggest) is nothing to do with fitness. We’re motivated to push ourselves but that personal goal, albeit massive, isn’t quite enough.

So we decided we needed a bigger purpose. Instead of running 35km in the forest just so we become officially the most badass people we know, we’ve decided to do it for another reason too, and a much more meaningful one at that. After debating about it for a while and coming up with different ideas, we settled on fundraising for the KidsCan Charitable Trust and raise money for children in need in New Zealand.

I don’t want to go all Mother Teresa on you, you see. But I know that when I’m out on that trail, I’ll be as desperate as I will ever have felt in my life and I’ll probably want to give up. Lots of times. No, more times than those. So, in a way, this isn’t completely selfless. Doing this run for KidsCan will mean that, when it gets really, really tough and I feel like I can’t push it any further, I’ll have some extra motivation in my mind.

This is where you come in. We have set up a fundraising page which will be open for donations over the course of the next four weeks, as we prepare for the big day. If you can, please help us help KidsCan. We put the page up last night and already had a few donations come through and I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate every single one of them and how much every single one of those people who have taken the time to support this cause will be on my mind during that run. Each of those dollars going to KidsCan is another reason for me to get out there and run.

So if you can spare a dollar (or a bit more), please head to our page and click the donate button. It’s super quick and easy, every single cent goes straight to KidsCan, and you’ll get about 3456 karma points in return. I’ll think of you as I drag my sorry self up and down those god forsaken hills.

P.s.: For more information on KidsCan, head over here. They explain it way better than me.

P.p.s.: We’ll be posting updates on the fundraising page and I’m probably going to go all trail-running obsessed on you over here for a while. If I don’t die on that trail, I promise to go back to sometimes writing non-running related posts again. Pinky promise!

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