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

Tennis elbow hampers rowing!

When i came back from holiday in October, i carried in our luggage from the car and afterwards my left elbow was hurting. Thinking little of it i continued to row, but over the last few weeks the pain has increased. So i stopped rowing about 10 days ago, have been pumping in the Neurofen and trying to rest my elbow in the hope that it will improve to enable me to continue rowing. I have continued in the gym on the bicycle to keep up my fitness. I realised how 'addicted' i have become to rowing as i have found it incredibly hard not to get on and row. In fact today i did row for 15 minutes to check out the elbow as the support that i have been using seems to have helped a bit! Hopefully with a week off at Christmas it will calm down and i can get back to some serious rowing in the New Year.

Off for an ECG next week following an increase in palpitations! Hopefully just extreme tiredness following recent flu and many sleepless nights with the kids being and/or stress with recent extra workload with moving mum etc. and/or too much caffeine!

Total metres rowed =845315m.

Happy Christmas to everyone

May God bless you in the year ahead.
Richard

80% of the way and still going!

For a month by month breakdown see the link to my rowing map on the right hand side of this page.

Mum on the move!

My blog may have been quiet for the last few weeks, but life has been as busy as ever! The main development is that mum moved into a Nursing Home last Thursday. Things at home for her became too difficult, especially at nightime and so following many discussions, meetings and looking at various options, mum moved to a lovely home near to where we live. There she can receive the 24 hour help that she needs as her condition progresses.The journey in the taxi was quite emotional, especially driving past mum's gym that she used to go to 3 times a week until just over a year ago.

On the rowing front, things have been quiet. I had flu again, which resulted in a 10 day break from the rowing, but I was back with a steady 5K last Friday and hopefully back with a 'normal' weeks rowing this week.

Total metres stand at 785,889m. Fundraising is still at £1185 plus gift aid.

Back from hols!

Had a great week away in dorset. End of October and on the beach!

Back to rowing. Just rowed 12k today. Timed myself at 2k and rowed 7 min 42.7s, which I was pleased with and then went straight into a steady 10k.

Total metres stand at 745,889m

End of the FRC with a personal best!

Today was the last day of the Fall Rowing Challenge. One month of rowing in teams to see which team can row the furthest. 'Empty the Tanks' finished 12th out of 256 teams. I didn't make the target that I set of rowing 200km in the month, but managed 131Km.

I broke my 10km personal best twice this week. Today, I rowed my fastest 10km time, which now stands at 41m 42.2s. That is nearly 7 minutes faster than when I first started logging my distances in March of this year. My colleague Robin rowed with me today and helped me to push myself to beat my time. We are thinking of having a joint row off somewhere in Walton-on-Thames - Robin rowing for the Firefighters Charity and me rowing for The PSP Association and splitting any monies raised between the two charities. (Possibly a half marathon or even a full marathon in the early part of next year to help complete my 1 million metre challenge!)

659880metres rowed
168 days 'at sea' that's an average of 3928m per day
Averaging 10,152m each time I actually row.

Out of the boat and into the water!

I have just returned from a Swift Water Rescue course in Northampton. Imagine white water rafting and then take the raft away and that gives you an idea of what I was upto. Rescuing from flood situations, self rescue and rescuing others from fast moving water etc! Physically demanding, but i managed a quick 5000m in between the two days at the hotel gym! Bck now and hope to be back on the rower tomorrow. Only one more week of the Fall Rowing Challenge. Our team is still 12th but i haven't managed to put in the distance over this last month that i wanted to (about 91Km so far).

Another very generous £25 in sponsorship from my friend Peter taking the total to £1185 plus gift aid.

More sponsorship!

Another very generous sponsor of £100 was received from Francois, Elisabeth and Raphael in Paris! Thankyou! The total now stands at £1160, which is almost 50% of the target set. Back to rowing tomorrow!

PSP Matters!

Well, my sore throat turned into tonsilitis, so I have been off work since last Thursday. Even though nothing has happened rowing-wise in the last week, a couple of things have happened.

I received sponsorship of £50 from my sister's neighbours in Hong Kong, Sabine and Hubert, which Iam very grateful for. My sister has also been over to see mum for few days before going back to Hong Kong via her Paris home.

An article has also been published in PSP Matters, the magazine for the PSP Association, for which I am trying to raise money for. So if you are reading this after seeing the magazine article, "hello to you" and thankyou for your support.

I hope to be back on the rower on Thursday and make up some ground before going on a Swift Water Rescue course with work for a few days next week.

Saved by the bell!

I had intended another 10K yesterday, but we spent the afternoon and evening tackling a fire in the guildford area. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise as I have been feeling a little unwell and now I have a raging sore throat, so it was probably good to lay off the rowing, although the firefighting was quite tiring in itself. I also spent last night helping with beth who is ill. We had to take her to hospital as her breathing was very laboured. She has croup which sounds awful but with a few steroids and some rest she should get over it fairly quickly.

Anyway, the Autumn rowing challenge is still going well and I can't wait to get back on the rower to do my bit for the team.

Best week so far!

I have rowed 71097m this week over four days. Aswell as setting personal bests for 5k and 10k I also set a personal best for the half marathon with a time of 1 hour 34mins, which is 8 minutes faster than my first half marathon of the year.

Empty the tanks is currently 9th out of 191 teams competing in the Autumn Challenge.

My total to date is 584,880 metres.