Big Sur International Marathon

What is going on:
Kind of by accident, I've entered into a marathon this month.

Huh?:
Ok, so I knew I was signing up for a marathon, but had I done a little more research I would have realised that The Big Sur International Marathon is not the gentle, picturesque and most importantly, flat run along the Pacific Coast Highway in California that I thought it was (but surely it's going to be at sea level, right?). Instead running blogs often refer to it as the hardest marathon in all of the mainland 48 states of America. Oops.

Why is so it hard?:
It's 26.2 miles, obviously, but I've also recently learnt that it has 1,600 feet of climb, a constantly uneven camber, 18 hills (13 of which are in the last 13 miles) and for the past few years has had 40mph headwinds. Ouch.

Why I'm telling you this:
I'm emailing you cap in hand to ask if you would you be kind enough to sponsor me to run this insane race. Any and every donation is welcome, from £1 / $1 upwards. Please.

Who I'm raising for:
A charity we visited in SE Asia recently; Room to Read - "an award-winning non-profit organization for improving literacy and gender equality in education in the developing world".

They're an incredible organisation set up by a former Microsoft VP who runs the ship like it's the military; no perks, no messing around, everything is strictly accounted for and justified. As a result, I'd say that they're probably one of the best charities in the world. They get the job done.

When it's happening:
The 28th of April. Two weeks on Sunday. Eek.

Why so last minute that I'm telling you this:
Two reasons, only one of them good. First, I've not really been particularly organised about this. Second, I read an article recently saying that contacting people months in advance isn't as effective as the urgency of a last minute request - basically, I need your support asap so please donate now and don't put it off!

How to get involved:
Check out everyclick.com/smbigsurmarathon/ . Here you can click on the green 'give now' button then the pink donate. If you can't donate, then use their search option - every time you google through them then I get money! Amazing right? Also, they don't charge the charity when they hand over the cash.

For US supporters, I've created crowdrise.com/smbigsurmarathon/ so you don't have to pay international credit card fees.

Even $1 / £1 would be greatly appreciated:
Which, lets be honest can't even buy you penny sweets these days so who couldn't give up a snickers bar for kid's education in Laos? Or to give Simon something to focus on at mile 23 when he wants to die?

Lastly:
Thanks for reading, and for supporting (hopefully). I'll be forever grateful and won't forget it. Updates on how it went and just how much pain I'm in promised for each and every supporter!

Huge thanks,

Simon