The End

Yes over 7 months of hard work, social media networking, spreading the word and tireless fundraising efforts by my family, friends and myself has come to an end and all I can say is THANK YOU to all of you who have supported my efforts in one way or another.

I wanted to mention people here who have supported me but I feel that would be unfair as I wont be able to remember everyone who has supported me over the last 7 months and that would be unfair.

So instead thank you to everyone who:
has re tweeted my tweets
has liked/shared my Facebook links
gave me training advise
trained or ran with me
was there for me when I was down
helped me to stay on track
made me laugh
has donated on my page
has sent prizes for the raffle
has bought raffle tickets
has been there at the finish line for us
baked for me
inspired me
helped and supported my wife and kids

My wife ticks most of those boxes so I feel that I should mention her as she has been very special and has given up so much for this challenge I cannot even start to explain to you. I wouldn't have understood it  before I did this journey. Its like when people tell you about being a parent but you have no idea what it is really like until you are one....
Catherine thank you for supporting my training and my races, for lending me a shoulder to lean on, to keep me on track and for picking me up when I am down, for looking after me when I got carried away. For giving up so much time and for making the time we spent together so special and enjoyable.

Most of all thank you for organising the actual event and making it so enjoyable for everyone that took part in it. You are a star!!!

I finished my 38.5 mile run in roughly 6 hours and 20 minutes and it was a great run thanks to all my support runners. The temperature was good and it was mainly rain free but the ground was soggy, muddy, wet overgrown and right out dangerous in places which I guess was partly to blame for my 2 falls.....

I could tell you a lot more about the run especially about my Diva style hissy fit  but I won't....

We finished in the market square in Abingdon as part of the amazing "Yeah Baby" with our own finishing line and even a police escort across the road! Seeing so many emotional people apart from myself I realised how much all of this means to the families involved. Thank you for letting us being part of it and thank YOU for following my journey.

As soon as I know how much was raised by Yeah Baby4 I will let you know.
Thank you all so much



Online Total today:
Direct donations £327 this week Thank You
That is brilliant as we have reached  £1877 Thank you so very much everyone. Your help is much appreciated and there is still money to be collected from sponsorship forms so just how much money can we raise for The Amber Phillpott Trust? Maybe £2000 who knows but all I can promise is that I gave it my best yesterday and I know you will too.Show me your support by donating via www.virginmoneygiving.com/florianstoermer and/or by spreading the word? If you have pledged to give money please feel free to give it to me as soon as you want.


Thank you for reading my blog please feel free to comment on it and share it with your followers and friends.


If you would like to raise money for  The Amber Phillpott Trust.  donate via My Fundraising page

Reflection

Today I am very nervous so there will only be a short blog from me sorry.

First of all a few bits for your diary
Next Saturday the 14.07.2012 is YeahBaby in Abingdon click on the link to find out why YOU just can't afford to miss it.
Wednesday the 11th of July at 1100 I will be interviewed by BBC radio Oxford (very exciting)

REFLECTION

So I am nearly at an end of my 7 month journey and I could write about so much but I will keep it to the main things I remember and that keep me going.

I have learnt a lot about my body and have managed to get it much stronger and fitter but that is at the bottom of my list. Another thing is that I have learnt that mentally perceived limits are just in your head and can be surpassed with the right attitude and support. I am lucky enough to have both and have pushed so much past any of my previous limits despite being nearly broken once....

I have two main memories when thinking about this challenge. The first is the generosity of people to donate, send prizes and give their time to help me spread the word which really has taken me by surprise and is something that has really humbled me and continues to do so. I know that I will think about this when I feel down, as not only people who know me but people who don't at all have supported me in places as far away as India....

The main memory however will be the emotional support and encouragement I received from colleagues, friends, tweeps but especially from my family. I have been down at times, struggled and doubted that I could successfully complete the entire challenge but all of you helped me going so far and will do so next Saturday I am sure of that.

Well that's it from me for today sorry only short....

Beard

The bumfluff beard is growing and people continue to admire my full grown beard make jokes about my lack of hair and some even call it patch work as I have some patchy bits on my face with no hair. You can still fund the beard growth by mentioning beard when donating online.

Stats Zone

Runs: 4

Distance: 20.8miles

nothing special but it was great as my lovely wife started her training and ran 3 times this week I am one proud runner, trainer and especially husband

Online Total today:
Direct donations £220 this week Thank You
That is brilliant as we have reached  £1550 Thank you so very much everyone. Your help is much appreciated and there is still money to be collected from sponsorship forms so just how much money can we raise for The Amber Phillpott Trust? Maybe £2000 who knows but all I can promise is that I will give it my best in just under 5.5days and I know you will too.Show me your support by donating via www.virginmoneygiving.com/florianstoermer and/or by spreading the word? If you have pledged to give money please feel free to give it to me as soon as you want.


Thank you for reading my blog please feel free to comment on it and share it with your followers and friends.


If you would like to raise money for  The Amber Phillpott Trust. and other charities supported by   The Yeah Baby Concert and to see me finish my 38.5 mile long Ultramarathon, then please come to the YeahBaby event in Abingdon Oxfordshire on the 14.07.2012 for a  free day of music, stalls, face painting etc... and/or donate via My Fundraising page

My Journey

Sorry for the delayed blog but I had to work a long day on Sunday and was too tired to write it yesterday after a quick but hard ish interval session.
I have not been up to much training last week as I wanted my body to fully recover from my hardest training week the week before and I had to work lots and was busy at home but still I got 1 decent run which lasted just under 30 minutes and covered 4.2m which was good.
I am hoping to train more this week but the main goal for the coming fortnight is to stay fit, healthy and injury free. So I will do what I feel is right as I am not much of a taper sort of guy but I know that it is important that my legs stay loose and I am rested and my mind is fresh.....

The Journey So Far
Last year I heard that James&Fleur were planning to set up a charity in memory of Amber so naturally I decided that I should help them to raise funds and awareness

Virgin London Marathon would have been good but sadly I did not get a place

So between Catherine, my wife, and I we decided that an endurance run like an ultra marathon would be good. We decided on a rough location, route and distance (which as you might know kept changing)
We contacted James and he suggested to do it on YeahBaby day so it is part of their big launch for The Amber Phillpott Trust. I was delighted to be part of such a great local charity event that has the potential to help people in need locally, nationally and now possibly even worldwide.

December
My training started with the amazing support of Catherine, Evie and Fabian. Their support has not stopped since then and all I can say is: THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!

Jan&Feb
A lot of miles and hard training and editing the route a bit more and naming the run
A M B E R
     i   o  x  u 
    n   g  t   n
    d   g  r
         l   e
        i   m
        n  e
        g

March
I ran my fastest mile yet in 6:09min and ran my first ever Marathon. Not in race conditions but as a training run but both of these runs were in memory of Ambers 1st anniversary.

April
I ran my first training race for AMBER. It was the Baildon Boundary Way half marathon. I enjoyed running it with two great runners and friends on a lovely sunny day.
My fundraising page was created as well www.virginmoneygiving.com/florianstoermer and started to get donations

May
I ran my first ever ultra marathon race the Pony Express in the New Forest. It was a 30 mile race but I got lost and added at least another 5 miles to it. Mentally my biggest challenge yet.
A lot of prizes started to arrive from companies I had asked for support and more money was donated via www.virginmoneygiving.com/florianstoermer by friends, colleagues, by total strangers and by tweeps who had only heard about this on twitter and have never met me or anyone involved with the charity from as far away as India.
I met some very nice tweeps as well who have and are helping me to raise awareness and funds for The Amber Phillpott Trust

June
I had my first ever video made for this charity challenge. Here it is (now viewable on mobile devices)

 The Video

by my good friend @marktownson
As well as this another Jedijogger, @rellisj, dedicated a very nice blog  to my challenge The Crazy German thank you
I ran my first ever marathon race the Cheltenham Circular Challenge. I was lucky enough to meet some amazing twitter friends there who ran this challenge with me. It was my toughest physical challenge and I smashed it even if I say so myself.
AMBER 14712 has also been mentioned in local magazines and newspapers and a radio interview has been arranged as well.
Team #FloFlt (Flo fighting leukaemia together) has been established as well and consist of my support runners and the most prolific tweeps that help to spread the word.
We broke through the £1000 barrier and got our T-Shirts printed
The Beard has been started as well. Its a challenge for me to grow a beard for 4 weeks and run with it on the 14th in exchange for donations. The thing is that I cannot grow a beard to save my life so it is more like a bit of bum fluff that makes me look ridiculous but its for a good cause. If you would like to fund the beard please mention beard when you donate via www.virginmoneygiving.com/florianstoermer

July
Well its time to sell raffle tickets and really cool wristbands as well as getting the final preparation for the day right....
Preparation for the 14th is going well as Catherine is organising most of it but sadly the sale of raffle tickets and wristbands is not going so well..... so here is a list of some of the prizes that can be won in the raffle and remember the raffle tickets only cost £1 each so please contact me if you would like any. The winners will be contacted via email and/or mobile phone....

 So that is all from me from now I wont input a stats zone just a fundraising update

Online Total today:
Direct donations £330 this week Thank You
That is brilliant as we have reached  £1330 so could you help to raise another £170 in 12 days by donating via www.virginmoneygiving.com/florianstoermer and/or by spreading the word? Come on you know you want to


Thank you for reading my blog please feel free to comment on it and share it with your followers and friends.


If you would like to raise money for  The Amber Phillpott Trust. and other charities supported by   The Yeah Baby Concert and to see me finish my 35 mile long Ultramarathon, then please come to the YeahBaby event in Abingdon Oxfordshire on the 14.07.2012 for a  free day of music, stalls, face painting etc... and/or donate via My Fundraising page