Marathon for Malaria No More

Calling all you caring runners: here's a chance to support Clotilde Gimond, another caring runner who is running a marathon to support the charity Malaria No More, which is aiming to end malaria deaths by 2015.

Did you know that every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa? Yet malaria is a totally preventable and treatable disease. Clitolde should know; she contracted malaria in Madagascar. You can read all about that story in her guest post on the Malaria No More website here.

To sponsor Clotilde, please visit her donation page. Every little helps.

Malaria No More website.

Bertrand Piccard: Achieving the impossible

If we get rid of some of the ballast in our lives, could we create some major changes and find our optimal height and trajectory? Would you like to go very fast in the wrong direction or slowly in the right direction?

Adventurer Bertrand Piccard uses flight analogies to offer us a challenge: Find motivation in what seems impossible. He shares his own plans to do what many say can't be done - to fly around the world, day and night, in a solar-powered aircraft.

World's Biggest Flash Animation for Juvenile Diabetes Research

JDRF (Junior Diabetes Research Foundation) have launched an online animation tool enabling people to create between 1 and 5 seconds of animation with a tool box of assets, background and uploaded photo’s, which they can then send to a friend who can then carry on the story, like an online animated game of consequences! The new tool is aimed at raising awareness or type 1 Diabetes and JDRF.

JDRF is a global charity that funds research into finding a cure for type 1 diabetes. New research reveals that less than a third of UK residents (30 per cent) know of type 1 diabetes with a further 59 per cent confusing the autoimmune condition with type 2 diabetes – which can be related to obesity and lack of exercise.

Type 1 diabetes can strike at any age and there is currently no cure.  Currently approximately 350,000 people in the UK have it including over 25,000 children.

Men are the most uneducated about the condition, with only 28 per cent correctly identifying it compared with 32 per cent of women.  Nearly one in ten men think that type 1 diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar whilst nearly six in ten men and women believe that it is related to obesity.  Those aged under 25 have the least awareness with 78 per cent incorrectly identifying the condition whereas those aged 45 to 54 have the highest levels of awareness of type 1 characteristics (36 per cent).

Find out more, and tell your story, at:

http://www.jdrfaware.com/default.aspx

Running Milestones

I've been keeping a little tally of my running milestones for a few reasons, the main ones being that it's easy to see if I'm actually getting better/fitter and another being that they provide a great deal of satisfaction and motivation when I reach one.

When I started running back in May/June, I found it hard to run for much over a kilometre without stopping or feeling like my heart was about to punch its way through my ribcage. Getting over that hurdle was the first, and perhaps most satisfying. Within a couple of months, I could quite comfortably run 3km, albeit at a snail's pace.

My next milestone, therefore, came in August (I think) when I found that I could run 5km without having to stop to rest - or receive CPR...

My first barefoot milestone was also in August, when I completed my first full barefoot run. I then gave barefoot trail running a bash and started running in the morning.

Somebody must have thought I was getting a bit too cocky, though, because the next milestone was not a particularly pleasant one: an Achilles injury. Thankfully, that seems to have healed and my next milestone was a major one for me - my first 10km run! I can't tell you how good it feels to know that I am now capable of running 10km (not barefoot, yet...).

So what's the point of this post? Well, I passed another milestone today as I ran 3km in under 15 minutes, which (I think) is a first for me. Now I know that 3km in 15 minutes is not exactly a scorching pace, but not so long ago it would have probably taken me twice that, if I was even able to go that far. I wasn't even planning it; I just noticed the time after I had finished the run. All in all, I'm pretty pleased. Incidentally, I ran in my Vibram FiveFingers KSOs this morning.

Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us

This is brilliant.

Playing sound effects both pleasant and awful, Julian Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways. Listen carefully for a shocking fact about noisy open-plan offices.

Lewis Pugh swims the North Pole

To be honest, I'm not sure what draws me to people like this - people who push themselves to extremes - but drawn to them I certainly am. I find the whole thing wonderful (call me mad).

Here, Lewis Pugh talks about his record-breaking swim across the North Pole. He braved the icy waters (in a Speedo) to highlight the melting icecap. Watch for astonishing footage - and some blunt commentary on the realities of supercold-water swims.

Michael Pritchard's Water Filter turns Filthy Water Drinkable

This is a wonderful invention. Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it - inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009.

Do It Because You Love It

I love this quote from sports trainer extraordinaire Joe Vigil:

"There are two goddesses in your heart, the Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you."

The basic idea: Do something because you love to do it, not because you think it will make you rich. I think that is a wonderful message and a great philosophy for a happy life. Joe Vigil is not saying that poverty is good - and neither am I - but there is a lot more to wealth than just money.

The quote appeared in Christopher McDougall's incredibly entertaining and inspiring book 'Born To Run', which I cannot recommend enough. Read it!