**Update - Triathlon completed**

By way of an update, I did the triathlon at lunchtime yesterday, finishing in approximately 1 hour 7 minutes whilst looking forward to mince pies and chocolate.  It was a long hour but went better than I had expected.  Feeling a little bit stiff but will have a relaxing weekend to recover. 

For anyone who is interested in the break down:

• row - 15.57 minutes
• cycle  - 19.57 minutes
• run - 31.03 minutes

I didn't stop to walk part way through the run or rest between activities.  I did them all in one go.

I have raised £582 online and offline for the charity so far (the justgiving webpage will remain active).  Thank you to all those who have sponsored me or

wished me well.  Also, thank you to Raj in the gym for setting up the machines, timing me and talking to me throughout! 

 

Sharon

 ***************************************************************************************************************

 

Hello everyone

I have decided to do a triathlon to raise money for Blind Sailing, a small charity that organizes the training weekends that I attend. 

Why I am raising money for Blind Sailing

Blind Sailing is a small charity that runs training weekends for visually impaired sailors of all abilities from giving people their first taste of sailing to coaching more advanced sailors to sail competitively in international fleet and match racing regattas.  It has given me the opportunity to participate in an active and exciting sport and enjoy the camaraderie of sailing and racing with other enthusiastic sailors, some of whom, like me, happen to be blind or partially sighted.  For others, the training has improved their confidence, communication skills and teamwork as well as their sailing.  The charity's website can be found at www.blindsailing.net 

Generally, funds raised go towards the purchase of equipment, cost of professional coaches for training weekends, expenses of volunteer coaches, and subsidizing the cost for students or those on lower incomes.  The current priorities for fundraising are:

• maintenance and acquisition of additional audio buoys and other equipment for race training; and
• raising over £12,000 to host a blind match racing world championship in the UK in September 2012.

What I am going to do to raise money

I am going to do a triathlon in the gym on Thursday 22 December.  That way, I will only have to struggle through a day of work before having a long weekend to recover.  To some of you, it may seem like cheating because I don't have to swim outside in a freezing cold lake in December!  Well, it is cheating a bit as I'm not intending to do any swimming at all (hurray!).  I view swimming as something that you have to do occasionally when a sailing boat capsizes.  Instead, I will row a lot further.  I will (hopefully):

• row 3 km;
• cycle 10 km; and
• run 5 km. 

Any sponsorship will be much appreciated.

Wish me luck.

Sharon