More sponsorship

I have received some more sponsorship from Caroline, who is the captain of the virtual team that I am in called "Empty the Tanks" and who also inspired me to undertake this challenge in the first place. So thanks Caroline. I really appreciate that.

A busy month!

July has been a busy month. Mum passed away peacefully on Sunday 4th July. She loved tennis, enjoyed watching Wimbledon and would have been pleased to play her final passing shot on men's final day! I am so pleased I told her that child number three is on the way. Amazingly, we visited 1/4 hour before she died. The kids stuck up their paintings on her wall. Beth said "Bye nanny!", Sam said "Bye nanny!" and soon after arriving home we received the call to say that she had gone. She was a wonderful mum and grandmother and will be deeply missed.

The funeral took place on th 16th of July with many friends and family coming to celebrate mum's life and to say their farewells.

My fundraising total has been reached and stands at £1500.

On the rowing front. I have slowly been building back up after my illnesses earlier in the year. I am hopefully going to mix things up a bit with some interval training to try and improve my fitness and possibly work on improving my 2K time. It seems that many people aim to achieve 2K in under 7 minutes. My season's best so far is 7M 56s, so there is a long way to go, but I hope to bring that time down during the remainder of the season. I'd also like to achieve 5K in under 20 mins and 10K in under 40mins.

As mentioned above baby number three is due in January, so I'll have to row as much as possible before the sleepless nights recommence!

Current total rowed for the season since May 1st stands at 144000m.

Even more doanations!

I received another three donations. My Uncle Michael sponsored me for the second time another £50, our friend Denise sponsored me £25 and Hazel,who I have never met( whose mother sadly passed away yesterday from PSP) sponsored me an amazing £100 taking the total to £1450.

More sponsorship!

I received three more sponsors yesterday and today. My sister-in-law sponsored me £20 for the second time. My old school friend Richard sponsored me £5 and friends Lorna and Ben £15, taking the total to £1275. Thanks guys!

Done!

Land Ahoy!

20Km to go. I hope to finish a day or two early by rowing the final 20Km tomorrow and Wednesday or Thursday. Thank you to everyone once again for your support and encouragement. If you would like to help me reach my target then please consider sponsoring me at http://justgiving.com/richardgatward

Almost there!

As can be seen from this graph, I am putting in a few metres this month to finish off. With hardly anything rowed for the first part of this year due to illness, I had thought that it would be impossible to complete. However, somehow I only have 40Km to go and 6 days left so I am hoping that I will achieve the 1 million metres within the time that I set myself. I have updated my map in anticipation of finishing! No personal bests, I am just trying to row the final metres. the distance is short of John O Groats, but if iI can rest my tennis elbow after this week for a while, then I may just carry on back round to Land's End! I will update again soon!

Still in with a shout!

I am feeling much better, have been away to Tenby for a week with the family and have been back to work for a week following my time off ill. I had resigned myself to not completing the task within the time that i initially set myself and obviously endured the "failure" jokes at work! However, my main concern is to make sure i am back to fitness and don't have another setback. I began rowing again just a few days prior to being back at work last week and have increased things steadily. The arm is holding out and the chest seems ok; so much so that there is still a chance of finishing the 1 million metres before the end of April.

Twelve days to go and just under 100Km to go. If i aim for a 10Km each day then i can miss two days and still make it. Average metres per day has dropped to 2574m but average metres per actual days rowed is still 9085m, but the drop reflects the fact that i have missed about 8 weeks in which to row in the first part of this year alone.

908,515metres rowed.

Medical setback!

I went back to work last week after my chest infection and started to ease slowly back into rowing, partly because of the chest infection and being very unfit and partly to take it easy with the tennis elbow. So i rowed a 1K and 2x2K last week. This week i started with a slow 3K. Yesterday i rowed an equally slow 5K. I was coughing a bit through it but assumed it was just my chest clearing out. Then i came home last night feeling really unwell again. I went to work this morning and was coughing alot and feeling achey. I was called out to and RTC on the M25.Car versus lorry. Cutting the roof off the car was the last straw. I felt exhausted. Well i came home, went to bed and then have been back to the doctors. "Bronchial hyperactivity". Anyway, steroids, antibiotics and an inhaler for me. Wow this is turning into a medical blog instead of rowing! It looks like i am not going to make the 1 million metres by the end of April. I calculated yesteday that if i rowed every day i am at work between now and the end of April then i would need to row 6644m a day, every day. It was possible, but now i am signed off by the doctor for a week it looks like i may have to extend the time.

Time is ticking away!

Wow, it's nearly the end of February and nearly 10 months since my row began. There are just over 150Km to go, but time is ticking away and I am still out of action. Unbelievably I have been ill three times so far this year with 'proper' flu, another virus and a current chest infection. Hopefully the antibiotics will knock it on the head and I will be back to full strength soon. The positive side is that as I haven't been able to row my tennis elbow has been resting and there has been a small amount of improvement. All blood tests, ECG etc all clear, so just run down from the flu etc.

Anyway, completing the challenge by the end of April is still a possibility. Although its been 301 days since the challenge started I have only actually rowed on 88 days, covering 847,315m, so I am encouraging myself that I still have 64 days left to cover 152685m. That is 9 weeks! Minus a weeks annual, weekends off etc leaves about 37 days of possible rowing!

Irrespective of whether I make it by the end of April, I will continue on as soon as I am fit even if it means it takes me a bit longer and I plan to keep going anyway and row right the way round until I get back to where I began at Land's End.

That it for now folks!

Richard