Running A Marathon For Autism Awareness

[garvice]

Gents, ladies, carnuts (yes we are a different breed),

 

Cliffs: The below is an unashamed plug and fundraising attempt for AEIOU, an early intervention program for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I'm doing my first ever marathon to raise money for autism early intervention services. The training has already started breaking my body and the marathon will likely finish me off. You can donate here and see my training to date:

https://hikebrisbane2016.everydayhero.com/au/brad

 

You can sign up to participate in the run or walk here:

http://www.takeahike.org.au/event/HikeBrisbane2016

 

Long Version:

My middle son has autism spectrum disorder (asd). He's 4 and is largely non verbal. He attends a kindergarten 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, where very dedicated girls and guys help him to understand and interact with the world around him.

 

The kindergarten, AEIOU, that he goes to, teach applied behavior analysis which is one of the federally recognised treatments for ASD. Kindergartens like this are not common, with AEIOU only having 9 centre's and helping about 220 kids. It might sound like a lot but with 300k births a year and 1 in 100 kids affected with asd, they are only reaching a fraction of the kids diagnosed each year.

 

Running AEIOU takes about 60k a child each year. To cover that they rely on a combination of parents fees, fundraising and government funding. They need to raise 10k per child per annum in order to continue to run each year.

 

One of the fundraisers each year is an event called "Take a hike". This event has 10.5km, 21km and 42km courses.

 

I started running in 2013 to lose weight and have raced the half marathon 3 times voluntarily. I quite like the challenge of a half marathon but thought that any distance further was stupid and people that ran marathons were nutty. Unfortunately, I also figured that if I was going to ask people to donate money for a cause close to my heart than i better pull out a big effort.

 

So far I've had 9 weeks of training and racked up 450odd kms. Had a few 60km weeks and a longest run of 32.5km. The training has been hard and I'm resigned to the fact that the marathon is going to break me. Never the less, I'm doing it for my son. I've even managed to rope in a few mates to join me.

 

So if you want to come for a run with me on the 16th of October or if you can spare a few bucks I would be very grateful.

[nizm0zed]

Im broke as all shit right now, but this is a cause worthy of donating to.
I'll be saving all my tips and scrounging together some cash.
Wont be much, but its better than nothing.

ASD runs in my family too

[garvice]

Thanks nismozed.

 

The thought/support/attitude is more than enough mate.

 

For how prevalent a condition it is, it's amazing how ignorant people are of the condition. But before my son was diagnosed, I was just as ignorant even though I had multiple relatives with the condition. Need to get the awareness of and acceptance of people with the condition out there more.

[garvice]

I did a 32.5km run last weekend that absolutely broke me physically and mentally for the marathon. It was the peak of my training and put big doubts on the run. Did a 25km at race pace today and felt much better. Back on track for hitting this marathon hard, still going to break me, but I'll get it done.

[garvice]

Thought i better keep you guys updated.

 

I've just about finished the 12 week program my mate did to take me from a half marathon to a full marathon. Just 1 more long run tomorrow to finish the 12 weeks and then another 3 runs next week to keep me mobile.

 

The 12 weeks had been~600km and I've pretty much done a half marathon or further each week.

 

When i first signed up for the marathon i thought it was a stupid idea and knew I'd be a broken man at the end. I was just planning on winging the training like i do for the half marathons.

Well now that I'm basically 7 days away what do i think.

 

I still think it's a stupid idea, I've been breaking myself for the last 12 weeks from the training and i still think I'm going to be broken at the end.

 

I'll let you guys know how many toe nails i have at the end (one has already delaminated and another is black).

[garvice]

Update. I finished a marathon! And a bit further.

 

Took a wrong turn and ended up adding 2km to the run so was 44km instead of 42.2km. Man am i glad that is over.

 

My team raised over 6k and the event raised 108k.

Thank you so much to all that donated, it's very much appreciated.

 

Finished with all my toe nails (2 still look very dodgy so might fall of in a week) and both nipples.

 

P.s. It's still a stupid distance.