Run For Your Life
Someone, somewhere is trying to tell me something. This morning I received an e-mail from Bryan Burnett inviting me to as he runs this year's London Marathon. He's also taking part in the Great Edinburgh run two weeks later. It's all in aid of the charity. Of course, I've seen Bryan in action before. He won the 5K run which we organised as the final event for our SoundTown project in Dalmellington. The rain was coming down in sheets but there was a great turnout from people in the village. Bryan took the lead early and I was trying to follow him with a video camera, taking short-cuts through side-streets and so on. But I just couldn't keep up with him and missed his great moment as he crossed the finishing line.
This was all in my mind when, at lunchtime, I made my way to one of our conference rooms to meet colleagues from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's team. They've been touring Ö÷²¥´óÐã centres around the U.K, to talk about this year's plans and to show a film about the success of the previous event two years ago. Naturally there was the usual faffing about while we worked out how to connect the DVD player to the projector, but then the film started, we dimmed the lights, pulled the blinds and on came Gary Lineker and various scenes of celebrities and famous athletes mucking about for a good cause.
I have to confess that my attention began to wander a little bit, mainly because there was a huge plate of cheese rolls on the middle of the table and I hadn't eaten since breakfast. So I subtly reached out for one and was just about to stuff it in my mouth when the film moved on into a harrowing sequence of child poverty in Africa and South America. Not wishing to seem insensitive, I manouvered the roll back to the table.
As the lights came up we heard some facts and figures about Sport Relief and how over a million pounds was spent in Scotland last time around. I was interested to hear that a "conflict resolution" group in Easterhouse has received some of the biggest grants. We discussed the possibility of a radio outside broadcast from Easterhouse Sport Centre in May. This would be six or seven weeks before the big Sports Relief day in July and would allow listeners plenty of time to register for one of the mile-long races taking place around the country.
Something tells me I'll have to look out my own running shoes and take part in some way. I'm not sure if my knees will hold out under the weight, especially since I gained five pounds in the past fortnight. Quitting the cheese rolls might help.
