The Origins...

In 2012 a few of my running friends were getting heavily into training for and running Ultra Marathons - that is races that are officially anything over marathon, but generally over 50km. A couple of them were keen for me to join the group and my answer was a firm "no way!"

Then came the brainwave... not quite sure who from... for me to run in the Tarawera Ultra to raise money for Hospice. I approached BNI, who I contract to and who are one of Hospice's National Sponsors, to see if they would sponsor my entry.
Part of me hoped they wouldn't, but of course they did. So after a fair bit of training - although less than most of my friends - I managed to run the 60km in a wee bit over 8 hours.... surprising myself and raising over $5000 for Hospice.

So, along comes 2013, should I run a longer distance... running Tarawera again was taken out of the equation when I agreed to help Paul Charteris with the lead-up and help on the day.
So what could I do that would grab people's imagination enough to open their wallets. The first question was what do I enjoy... that was easy, my favourite distance is Half Marathons.
Inspired by great feats by people like Mal Laws with his 7in7 Challenges I had to think out of that box and be original.

52 in 52...

So 52 in 52 was born. 52 Half Marathons (or longer) in 52 weeks. Starting on my 54th Birthday in May with the T42, one of the very best trail marathons in the country and finishing with the 50th Anniversary Rotorua Marathon.

The Goal...

So the goal is to raise in excess of $20000 for Hospice. By being a long challenge over a full year I am hoping for people to sponsor me per event and I will invoice them each month making it easier on the pocket.
I will be running 5 to 6 events a month to allow for the quiet months of December and January and every event will be an organized race.
So that's the story... please help me achieve my goal!