Originally posted on Gigging Forever in April 2012
This evening, it was flipping cold and windy, it looked like the heavens were about to open, I was exhausted from several late nights, and Come Dine With Me was on the TV. And yet for some crazy reason, I put on a tiny pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and went running off down the river Thames to Ham and back again. Why?
Well, a few hours earlier I'd received an absolutely lovely email from someone I've met only a couple of times, but who had very generously sponsored me for the upcoming BUPA 10k in May, telling me about how he'd watched his father slowly deteriorate with Parkinson's disease. It's a story I've heard more times than I thought I would over the last couple of years. At the last count I know at least 4 people who have relatives affected by this degenerative condition (and I'm sure there are many more), yet it's not something which gets that much attention.
Perhaps it's because it seems quite a gradual thing, or that it doesn't really kill anyone by itself. But when you remember that, even two years ago, your grandfather could go for walks across fields and climb over stiles, and then you watch him struggle to sit on a chair at the dinner table without falling over to one side, it puts things into perspective a little bit.
The other day, I read a thread on a music forum I frequent, entitled "Running/Walking for Donations: This is Stupid...". The basic premise was that the thread starter didn't understand why people should have to promise to run / walk / shave off their third nipple in exchange for money. Now I read it again, I think it was intended to be sympathetic, but it was at best a little naive. Here's my response:
"Last year I trained myself up from having never run in my adult life to running 10km in an hour- I did this to raise money for the Cure Parkinson's Trust in the UK. I publicised my training efforts on my Facebook, Twitter and several forums (not here though I don't think!), and as a result I raised nearly £1,000 for the charity along with my sister. Do you think if I hadn't done all that, those people would have just thought to give the CPT some of their money? And do you also think that if I just put on my Facebook every single day "Go on, give some money to CPT", without the whole "I'm really making a big effort here" thing, people would have done so?
This is why people do this stuff. It works."
This is why I'm happy to be trying to do my bit, however infinitesimally small that may be; and just how small it is cannot be underestimated. I'm trying to raise at least £250 for the Cure Parkinson's Trust, but I'd ideally like to double that at least. What's £500 going to do? I have no idea. It's certainly not going to do anything to help any of the people I know or their relatives, for whom it is rather too late. But maybe it'll buy a few petri dishes or a lab coat that'll enable someone to have the tools they need to develop some medical breakthrough that'll stop my grandchildren suffering in the same way as previous generations.
Other people are putting me to shame with treks across Peru, bike rides from Land's End to John O'Groats, and abseils down churches, but frankly if you knew how unfit I am, you'd be pretty damn impressed at me even attempting to run 10k. Honest you would. So impressed, in fact, that you'd feel like chucking a few quid in my virtual bucket. Even if it was just to see if I repeat the whole shorts/headphone cable dance round St Paul's Cathedral from last year.
Oh, and since this is supposed to be a music blog, here's my iPhone's shuffle selection from my running playlist for today's run. A nice mix of Indie, Classic Rock and embarrassing cheese, All pre-approved using my patented running music selection scheme...
The Killers - Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
Paul Weller - Uh-huh Oh Yeah
My Life Story - I Faced the Music
Doves - Black and White Town
Queen - Need Your Loving Tonight
A-ha - You Are the One
Manic Street Preachers - The Girl Who Wanted to be God
The Beatles - Think for Yourself
Captain - Lost the Bottle
A-ha - The Blood That Moves the Body
It Bites - Midnight
Ladytron - Seventeen
Coldplay - Life in Technicolor II
Pet Shop Boys - I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing
David Guetta - Love is Gone
ABC - Tears are Not Enough
Mike Oldfield - Guilty
This evening, it was flipping cold and windy, it looked like the heavens were about to open, I was exhausted from several late nights, and Come Dine With Me was on the TV. And yet for some crazy reason, I put on a tiny pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and went running off down the river Thames to Ham and back again. Why?
 |
| It is, at least, a lovely route (on a sunny evening...) |
Well, a few hours earlier I'd received an absolutely lovely email from someone I've met only a couple of times, but who had very generously sponsored me for the upcoming BUPA 10k in May, telling me about how he'd watched his father slowly deteriorate with Parkinson's disease. It's a story I've heard more times than I thought I would over the last couple of years. At the last count I know at least 4 people who have relatives affected by this degenerative condition (and I'm sure there are many more), yet it's not something which gets that much attention.
Perhaps it's because it seems quite a gradual thing, or that it doesn't really kill anyone by itself. But when you remember that, even two years ago, your grandfather could go for walks across fields and climb over stiles, and then you watch him struggle to sit on a chair at the dinner table without falling over to one side, it puts things into perspective a little bit.
The other day, I read a thread on a music forum I frequent, entitled "Running/Walking for Donations: This is Stupid...". The basic premise was that the thread starter didn't understand why people should have to promise to run / walk / shave off their third nipple in exchange for money. Now I read it again, I think it was intended to be sympathetic, but it was at best a little naive. Here's my response:
"Last year I trained myself up from having never run in my adult life to running 10km in an hour- I did this to raise money for the Cure Parkinson's Trust in the UK. I publicised my training efforts on my Facebook, Twitter and several forums (not here though I don't think!), and as a result I raised nearly £1,000 for the charity along with my sister. Do you think if I hadn't done all that, those people would have just thought to give the CPT some of their money? And do you also think that if I just put on my Facebook every single day "Go on, give some money to CPT", without the whole "I'm really making a big effort here" thing, people would have done so?
This is why people do this stuff. It works."
This is why I'm happy to be trying to do my bit, however infinitesimally small that may be; and just how small it is cannot be underestimated. I'm trying to raise at least £250 for the Cure Parkinson's Trust, but I'd ideally like to double that at least. What's £500 going to do? I have no idea. It's certainly not going to do anything to help any of the people I know or their relatives, for whom it is rather too late. But maybe it'll buy a few petri dishes or a lab coat that'll enable someone to have the tools they need to develop some medical breakthrough that'll stop my grandchildren suffering in the same way as previous generations.
Other people are putting me to shame with treks across Peru, bike rides from Land's End to John O'Groats, and abseils down churches, but frankly if you knew how unfit I am, you'd be pretty damn impressed at me even attempting to run 10k. Honest you would. So impressed, in fact, that you'd feel like chucking a few quid in my virtual bucket. Even if it was just to see if I repeat the whole shorts/headphone cable dance round St Paul's Cathedral from last year.
Oh, and since this is supposed to be a music blog, here's my iPhone's shuffle selection from my running playlist for today's run. A nice mix of Indie, Classic Rock and embarrassing cheese, All pre-approved using my patented running music selection scheme...
The Killers - Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
Paul Weller - Uh-huh Oh Yeah
My Life Story - I Faced the Music
Doves - Black and White Town
Queen - Need Your Loving Tonight
A-ha - You Are the One
Manic Street Preachers - The Girl Who Wanted to be God
The Beatles - Think for Yourself
Captain - Lost the Bottle
A-ha - The Blood That Moves the Body
It Bites - Midnight
Ladytron - Seventeen
Coldplay - Life in Technicolor II
Pet Shop Boys - I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing
David Guetta - Love is Gone
ABC - Tears are Not Enough
Mike Oldfield - Guilty
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