Run With Me

Sportrelief

2008-02-21T14:04:00.004Z

Hi I'm running again! This time for Sportrelief's Mile in Colchester town. Click on the meter above to visit the relevant page. Your support will be much appreciated :)

Thanks!

Beres

2007-07-06T05:45:00.000+01:00

I ran the race, flew the flight, and I'm now back at home in Malaysia. It's nice to be home. I'm always having to wait to use the PC because both my brothers are back at home now and with my dad retired, that's one extra person doing 'nothing' :p

I'm quite happy with my timing. I finished the 10km in only 47 minutes and 55 seconds, waayy ahead of my 1 hour target. I must admit it was quite an experience running with so many other people (there were at least 20 thousand runners there) and with so many people cheering you on. The streets were lined with people cheering, shouting, clapping, waving banners, playing music, singing, taking photos... It really was a sight.

I have a few people I'd like to thank - the guy in the yellow and black running vest who I tailed behind for the first 6km before giving up and running at my own pace, Geri Halliwell ("It's Raining Men" was blaring from the speakers about 2km from the finish when I wanted to give up running), the hostel staff who allowed me to use the shower even though I had already checked out, Suzy for writing the cheque for £48.78 raised offline, and every one of you who supported me as I ran for CARE.

THANK YOU : )

p.s. "beres" translates to "done" or "finished" in Malay.

Running the Hour

2007-06-27T23:17:00.000+01:00

Blogging is so much tougher than running. Apologies to all for this.

Well training has been going on fine. I've been running about an hour every other day of the week and playing football in between.

I'm still getting increasing marginal returns on the training I put in. Just Tuesday, I broke all three of the benchmarks I've set on my regular route to around Alresford from uni. Uni - Wivenhoe Railway Station (9min 52 sec), Ford Ln (end of route) - Uni (29 min 10 sec), Uni - Ford Ln - Uni (1 hr 1 min 54 sec). If it weren't for the slow run at the beginning I could've broke the 1 hour barrier too. I'm really glad about finishing the uni -wivenhoe trail below 10 minutes though. Been trying to pass that for some time already.

I think I'm prepared for the run this Sunday. I'm not too sure though about the distance. I was using my ruler and measuring the distance along the river to a scale on a map I found on the internet and it came up to only about 5.25km, which I think is ridiculous. If I remember correctly, one round around SS20 back home took me about 13 minutes (if I remember correctly) and that was already 2.5km or something of the sort. It'd be impossible for me to be running at half the speed I used to. Then again my methodology could've been at fault - using a ruler on the laptop screen :p

Ok let's do a bit more math - I used to clock about 5 min 30 sec for 1500metres. So I'm running at a speed of about 272m/min. Let's say I can keep that up for 10km, it would take me only +-36 minutes to complete the run. But realistically, I probably wouldn't be able to keep that up for 10km, so let's say (in the worst case scenario) I reduce my average speed by about 50% to 136m/min. At that speed it would take me 1 hour and 13 mins to run 10km.

I'm aiming to finish the run under 1 hour. I think it's realistic. We'll see on Sunday :)

Top Ten Facts about CARE

2007-04-23T17:04:00.000+01:00

Care is one of the top three aid agencies in the world. They work in 70 countries with more than 48 million poor and marginalised people.
Worldwide, they run 156 HIV and AIDS projects helping 12 million people live with the disease and its consequences as well as preventing its spread through information and education campaigns.
They are working with more than 600,000 people across the tsunami-affected region to help rebuild their lives through new homes, jobs, healthcare, water and sanitation and psychosocial support.
Since the 1950s, an estimated 10 million people in 30 countries have gained access to safe drinking water through their water and sanitation programmes. In 2005 alone, they provided safe water for some 730,000 people and improved sanitation for more than 600,000.
They support more than 800,000 people in 39 countries to set up small business activities, for example by giving small loans or running village savings projects. In 2005, they helped individuals and poor communities around the world to save approximately £53 million and generated loans worth £65 million.
They built or repaired 62,000 kilometres of road in 2005.
They help more than 1,400,000 children get a good education. Nearly 70,000 children around the world are in schools directly supported by CARE. And in 2005, they trained more than 3,000 teachers.
CARE's child health projects reach nearly 7 million children to help reduce their vulnerability to disease. And in 2005, they helped more than 100,000 women around the world to give birth safely.
They run programmes in more than 100 cities around the world aimed at improving quality of life and access to services for people living in slums.
CARE has provided emergency shelter and safety in camps for nearly 300,000 people.

The Shopping List

2007-04-22T23:49:00.000+01:00

Ever wondered what impact your donations could have on the lives of the needy?

Here’s a list of items you could buy to help a family out of poverty.

£5 provide a set of agricultural tools for a family in Myanmar to establish a home garden.

£10 could supply a child with materials required for learning, including a school bag, pen, pencil, notebook and painting kit.

£20 could enable a family of 5 to access approximately 15 litres of fresh drinking water for one day.

£80 could provide a small grant to a primary school to purchase equipment such as blackboards, books and desks.

£150 could install a toilet in a school to help improve sanitation.

£200 could install one well and water pump in a school to provide up to 160 students with fresh drinking water.

£200 could provide a poor family with one of the largest assets a small farming household can acquire, a cow.

£500 buys 70 impregnated mosquito nets to distribute to families living in Angola and other malarial zones.

£1000 could set up a village school in India, including teacher training and materials.
£5000 could purchase home care kits to restore cleanliness and dignity to 100 chronically ill AIDS patients for up to 3 years.

£10000 builds one haffir, a man-made reservoir that collects water in the rainy season. Just one haffir can collect and supply water to 4500 people for the entire 7 months of the dry season in Sudan.

Here’s another list of items you could buy to assist in responding to emergencies/disasters.

90p can provide a family with a “Safe Water System” to ensure that they have clean drinking water for a month.

£3.50 buys a fishing-net to replace those lost in natural disasters.

£5 could buy an emergency hygiene kit including shampoo, laundry soap, bath soap, sanitary napkins, towel, pail, lid, toothpaste and toothbrush.

£12 could pay for 8 shovels for people to rebuild a road.

£15 could provide a one-month food package that could feed a family of five for a whole month.

£36 can provide the materials necessary to reconstruct a family’s house.

£64 can provide 1000 pounds of rice.

£136 can provide lifesaving milk, cheese, sugar and high energy biscuits for 350 malnourished children in critically under-resourced hospitals.

£1000 buys with enough essential drugs and pharmaceutical equipment to treat 10000 people for a month in emergency zones.

£2500 can supply a day’s supply of emergency ready-to-eat food to 1500 families of five.

Both lists were sourced from CARE USA’s Finance Department and from CARE’s gift catalogue – 2005.

Feels good to be running again

2007-04-14T16:58:00.000+01:00

Finally got myself a pair of running shoes. It’s my first Asics. They’re all quite pricey, even up to 70 quid! Hence the dull colour - it was going for much, much less ;)

No complaints though. It’s a fairly good fit and it didn’t even need much breaking-into when I went for my first decent-jog-in-a-long-time yesterday.

It was a humbling reality check. Even while warming up with stretches I already felt the strain, lol. I think I understand why warming up and down is so important now. Back in college it wasn’t really as necessary.

I’ll have to keep the running up. It’ll certainly help condition my mind to take the long hours of revision. Exams are coming up in mid-May so I’m all psyched.

FAQ

2007-04-13T00:29:00.000+01:00

Frequently Asked Questions

I haven’t been asked much about this (yet), but thought I’d pre-empt it anyway ;)

1. Why are you running for charity?

Well initially, I simply wanted to run. In high school and college I used to do middle distance (800m, 1500m) and 10km runs. I haven’t done any serious running in the past two years though, and thought the British 10K was a brilliant opportunity to start running again.

The idea of running for a charity is pretty new to me (I don’t think it’s commonly practiced in Malaysia), but I think it makes good sense. I could always donate some money directly to a given charity, and try convincing a few others to do the same. But persuading others to donate money ain’t easy. For many, supporting a friend may strike closer to home than “helping alleviate global poverty and disease”.

Also, with a run, there is an element of making a physical commitment to running and training for the run. It really wouldn’t be fair for me to be asking someone else to make a financial commitment towards a cause when I am not at least as committed myself.

2. Of all the charities to run for, why CARE International UK?

Were it possible I’d love to run for all the charities listed on the British 10K website - they could all use a little more financial support. CARE stood out for me because I believe in their mission to serve individuals and families in the poorest of communities in the world, and their work in delivering and developing lasting changes. They don’t believe in merely providing the proverbial fish but in enabling others to fish themselves.

In real terms, they don’t just dispense medicine to sick people, but are involved in developing longer term solutions by providing education on health, family planning, and STDs, as well as training local volunteers and counsellors to take on those roles. They don’t just dish out money like Santa, but teach people to be financially independent by helping them start their own businesses or growing their own food.

CARE is also committed to many more efforts like disaster and conflict humanitarian work, influencing government and business policy, and addressing discrimination. For more information on the work they are doing and ways in which you can support them visit CARE’s website (http://www.careinternational.org.uk/)

3. Why "Run With Me"?

Running alone is always less fun than running with someone else. And running with someone else often spurs me to go further and faster. Many runners will attest to that. Likewise, I'd like you to run with me in the following ways -

By donating 1£ for everyone kilometre I run. This way I know that for every 1km I cover on the ground, that'll be an extra £1 x the number of donors which will go towards the work CARE is doing. Not only will this be an encouragement to me when I run, but I believe that it will also encourage you to feel a greater part of this event. Do take note that 1£ per km is just a suggestion. Feel free to donate as much or as little as you feel compelled to.

By considering the impact of your donations as you make them. It's always easier to donate blindly to support a friend, and I'm sure that every penny donated will be very much appreciated nonetheless. However, being an idealist, I'd like for this experience to make an impact in your life, as it will do in the lives of those who will benefit from the donations you make. Hence I will endeavour to try provide you (on this blog) with some information and thoughts every now and then, on not only the work CARE is doing, but also about poverty itself and the lives it affects.

4. How can I donate?

You can visit my fundraising page (www.justgiving.com/markusncy) and donate using your credit/debit card. It’s a fairly straight forward process. Just click on the “sponsor me now” button, and follow the instructions. It’ll take you about 5 minutes to set up an account and donate.

5. I don’t have a credit/debit card. How else can I donate?

If you’re in Essex University, I will have a collection box for cash and cheque donations placed in my kitchen, Wolfson Court 2 (it’s just behind the North Campus accommodations office beside the North Towers). Just ring the bell and one of my nice flatmates or I will let you in to drop off your donations.

If you’re not at the university, you can write a cheque payable to “CARE International UK” and mail it to me. My address is as follows :

Markus Ng,
Wolfson Court 2/G,
University of Essex,
Colchester,
CO43SQ Essex,
UK

6. Will I get a receipt for my donations?

If you need a receipt for your donations, please let me know, and I’ll arrange for one to be mailed to you.

7. Are we by donating, subsidising the cost of your participation in the run?

Nope. Every penny donated will go to CARE International UK. Participating in the run costs £29.50, which I have already paid for myself.

work in progress

2007-03-01T02:53:00.000Z

brb in good time. Bookmark this page and drop by again soon!