How I fundraised for the London Marathon

A year ago to the day I found out I had been accepted by Cardiac Risk in the Young to be a part of their charity team to run the London Marathon. I posted the below photo on Facebook to announce my news to my friends and family, it's so funny to think the girl in that picture had no idea what lay ahead! 

I posted several updates on training and the challenges that comes with the physical aspect of running a marathon. You can read the training posts here! I didn't however really touch on the fundraising side of things as much as I would have liked. It is a huge part of the marathon, if not the biggest. The Virgin Money London Marathon is the largest annual fundraising event on the planet – runners have raised over £830 million for good causes since the race began in 1981. For some runners, the thought of accepting a charity place can be quite daunting. If you are given a place from a charity you have to commit to a pledge of usually around £1500 - £2000. This is partially why the ballot is so competitive, as a place in the ballot means you are under no obligation to run for a charity, although most do, but without the added pressure of a set target, anything they raise is just a bonus for their chosen charity. 
I applied to the ballot as well as to Cardiac Risk in the Young, but by June 11th 2016 CRY had offered me a place, with the ballot results not being announced until October, I decided I didn't want to risk missing out, so took my place. I was always going to raise money for CRY in memory of a school friend but as I mentioned before the charity place target is high and I had no idea how I was going to achieve that sum of money. That said, from the moment I accepted the place and posted the above picture to Facebook only to receive a whirlwind of love and support, I knew I could do it.

So, here's my top fundraising tips on how to hit that charity pledge and no doubt exceed it!;

• Social media - Use your social media platforms to make people aware, yes you will feel like you're boring everyone with marathon chat, but you know what; if they were running the marathon they would be doing the exact same thing! So have confidence that what you're doing is an amazing and inspirational thing and anyone who views it negatively, probably isn't worth your time anyway! Obviously try and keep things interesting, no-one wants daily updates on how many blisters you have or how sore your legs are. I posted my training runs via the Map my Run app to Facebook, again I've heard people moan about seeing workouts online, but it allowed me to show those following my journey that I was getting the miles up. Often you'll find people will see you've done a 12 or 14 mile training run and decide that's the time they'll sponsor you, so link your fundraising page in your MapmyRun posts. 

• Themed fundraising - Making use of celebrations, holidays and current occasions that everyone can relate to. For example, many people will want to go out or have a party at Halloween or bonfire night, you can use these to organise a fundraiser and you are guaranteed a wider audience than just throwing a party on a random weekend. A good idea for bonfire night might be to make a big pot of curry or chilli for your friends, get some hot cider on the go, you can charge people a set price for the meal and a drink and will definitely make a profit. I took the opportunity to make Christmas cards, I wrote a post on this which you can read here! 
  

• Involve the office! - Time is something we all find difficult to manage, no matter what it is, the moment you take on an extra challenge you have to adapt your time to fit it in. As we spend on average 40 hours at work each week, what better way to hit your target than by fundraising in the place you spend most of your time. My team moved office's last year and when we moved, much to everyone's horror, the new office didn't have a vending machine! So one of the girls came up with a great idea of creating our own charity tuck shop, all items cost 50p, each month whoever stocks the shop, takes home the profits for their chosen charity. I was lucky enough to get 2 months for my charity and made over £350. I also made pick'n'mix in addition to buying multipack crisps & chocolate. They were really popular and I was even asked to make 100 additional bags  last week for a supplier conference at work - it seems I've started a bit of a business!
• The classic bake sale is a always a fail safe if you work in an office, however they don't tend to make much money for the effort that goes in so maybe stick to one or two evenly spaced out over time. I also asked friends to bake for me too so I didn't have to do it all myself, you'd be surprised how happy people are to contribute their 'signature bake' if you give them enough notice! 
• Finally, be sure to check if your work offers a match funding programme, I was able to get £250 extra from work which was a great bonus! 

And one year on from that first photo, here I am, a 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon finisher, and have officially raised Two thousand, four hundred and fifty pounds for Cardiac Risk in the Young. There is literally no better feeling, the marathon itself feels like months ago, when in reality it's only been just over 6 weeks! I didn't think I could beat the feeling of crossing that finish line on the mall, but seeing my final fundraising total this week has given me such a buzz! I'm honestly so proud and grateful to everyone who showed me support throughout the marathon journey this last year, it's honestly the best thing I've ever done. 
So if you have applied to the ballot and don't get a place, I urge you to still apply for a charity place, don't be put off by the large figure, it all comes together once you get going and it will be one of the best experiences of your life.

Massive thank you to all who sponsored me and supported me, reading back through messages to write the post today has been such a lovely reminder of race day and one I'll never forget!

L x