London Marathon

A marathon is a great thing to do in life. You only have to do one to call yourself a 'Marathon Runner'. It is something I think is within everyone's capabilities, and yet is also a superb accomplishment for anyone who finishes one, whether your time is '2 hours 5 minutes' or '5 hours 2 minutes'.
The London marathon was hot and hard, and yet the support given to you by half-a-million strangers was so uplifting. I stopped to stretch out cramped hamstrings at 21 miles and the crowd was genuinely concerned for me. When I began running again the cheer was Hollywood-esque, and truly uplifting!
Supporting a charity makes completing a marathon even more rewarding. I was supporting Hope and Homes for Children, old friends of mine, and I was glad that my 2 hours 58 minutes of pain (a long-term ambition of mine was to break 3 hours) will help achieve something positive.
Sign up for a marathon today: I promise you that you will never regret it.

Photos from Liberia

A photographer friend of mine, Chris, who I met whilst cycling through Kazakhstan [click

here for amazing photos of the Stans

and

here for crazy Soviet bus stops

], is now living in Liberia. Liberia is one of the world's poorest countries with so many challenges and life there is hard. Have a quick look at Chris'

latest photo montage

, of men who make their living using their wheel-barrows in ingenious ways.

www.herwigphoto.com

The New 7 Wonders of the World

There is a new movement to update the 7 Wonders of the World. It sounds like a good idea to me, and I pretty much agree with their shortlist. Visit the website here to vote. This is my selection, such a big choice that it has overspilled the page...

Facebook

An ideal way for catching up with old friends, keeping your friends posted about your life and (for example) keeping nicely updated on the details of any imminent book publication... Have a look at Facebook here.

Running the London Marathon

Before setting off to cycle round the world I ran the London Marathon, dressed -daftly- in a large rhino costume. My time of 4 hours 52 minutes was the winning time for a rhino that year.
This year I am running the marathon again, this time without a rhino suit, and I hope to knock almost two hours off my time.
My ambition is to run a sub-3 hour marathon. I am not sure I am a good enough runner to achieve this, but I will certainly be trying my best on April 22nd. I am raising money for Hope and Homes for Children once again, and you can sponsor me here if you are able. Thank you!

Anti-apathy

I was looking on-line to find out if there was a 'proper' word for one of my favourite concepts, that of 'anti-apathy'. I didn't find my word, but I did find the Anti-Apathy website. Some interesting questions to ask ourselves and challenge ourselves with...

Metal Cowboy

Continuing in my recent vein of families being unusual and interesting, challenging themselves and having a great time in the process. Joe Kurmaskie (a.k.a. 'The Metal Cowboy') has founded a summer camp to get kids away from their X-box and out into the fresh air. He is also about to launch a TV show which sounds intriguing: "Adventure Dad"!
He has had plenty of adventures and recently went on a great bike adventure with his two young boys. On top of that, he bought me a huge breakfast back in Portland! See the Metal Cowboy website here.

Bell

Using a bell is certainly sensible in busy areas. This very random video shows how disciplined the Japanese are at moving aside when they hear a bell...