2007 in 2007

Paul Dickson, a gentleman who has a 3 year old son with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, has committed to running 2007 miles in the year of 2007, including the London Marathon.

Joining Paul in his efforts is his mother-in-law Lynda Price, who has decided to swim 2007 25m lengths in 2007. Another gentleman, Rob Andrew, has joined in and is completing at least 2007 sit-ups every month in 2007 which will result in a staggering 24,084 for the whole year. They are all raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and are determined to fundraise until a cure is found.

A message from Paul Dickson:

"Having run the London Marathon for the MDC in 2006 there were two burning reasons for wanting to have a second attempt; firstly to raise even more money and secondly because I wanted to better my previous finishing time.

My desire to run the Marathon got me thinking – “will the generosity of 2006 be repeated in 2007?” In order to raise as much money as possible I thought I’d have to go one better than simply repeating my efforts from the year before. So I went about planning the 2007 in 2007 challenge. Running 2007 miles across the course of the year, I felt, was far more likely to get people to dip into their pockets once again.

I began training across the winter of 2006 without any problems. I also secured a place in the 2007 Flora London Marathon (FLM) through the MDC so this gave me a great training target for the early part of the year. Whilst 2007 started really well I’ve been plagued by a series of niggling leg injuries that have seriously curtailed my progress. It’s been really frustrating as I didn’t have any ongoing problems preparing for the FLM 2006. As of the end of March I should have completed around 500 miles, but I’ve only reached half of that. Damage to my muscle and tendon in my left leg left me house-bound for the entire month of February. I’m still trying to nurse some degree of pain in my leg whilst getting back up to speed. Unfortunately, however, With only 3 weeks to the London Marathon I’m as confident as I’ve been for 2 months that I will make the starting line. I just need to be careful and keep my fingers crossed that my legs hold out! Whether I’ll be able to reach my target time of 3h30m – 3h40m is another matter. With everyone around the course wishing me luck I’ll have a really good chance though …and covering the Marathon miles will go some way to helping me catch up on my target.

Your support would mean so much – not just to me, but to my whole family and the MDC. Wish me luck and check my progress across the year on the website – www.2007in2007.org.uk. There is also a message board to leave your comments.
Why not also check out the progress of Rob Andrew and Lynda Price. They are attempting their own 2007 challenges by attempting sit-ups and swimming lengths respectively."


You can also support Paul via his just giving site at http://www.justgiving.com/pauldickson2007