Post 4: ‘Come on Dickie, put your back in to it!’ - August 2011

Hi All,

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to visit my blog. If you’re new to it you can find the other entries below where it’ll give you more of a background to what I’m doing and the purpose of this blog.

Well, first confession, August hasn’t exactly been a particularly productive month in terms of training. Katie (my wife) and I went on holiday at the start of the month and although I took my trainers with me to do some running, this was only ever an optimistic gesture at best. I did do a bit of running, in Köln and Füssen, and as I was running around enjoying the views (especially in Füssen, where we started the Romantic Road Cycle Challenge) I thought to myself I am technically an international runner, with an American fitness coach, sponsored by Adidas and currently at my European training camp! However, due to my (still) worrying lack of fitness, that moment didn’t last very long and I was back to usual thoughts of ‘what have I got myself into’ and ‘I can’t do this’. Nice while it lasted though, albeit very briefly.

This time of year is always very poignant and emotional for everyone who was close to Jo. Yesterday (25^th August 2011) was the 3^rd anniversary of her accident and although she is always in our thoughts, especially with the success of The JB Trust, she is even more at this time of year. Personally I like to leave The JB Trust alone for a few days and just think about Jo as my sister and remember the great times we shared. Jo’s nickname for me was ‘Dickie’, an abbreviation of Richard I hated being called. However, it never bothered me when Jo sad it, she was the only person I allowed to call it me. It is things like that I like to remember and not think about how we can continue to develop The JB Trust.

Having said all that, The JB Trust continues to grow. In these past few days we’ve received two corporate donations from Severn Trent Water and WSP. Thanks to my good mates Jason Brewer (Severn Trent) and Jez Clarke (WSP) for nominating us. The thing I like about this is both Jason and Jez nominated The JB Trust. Then the management board, or employees, look at all the charities that have been nominated and decided which they’d like to support. For me this shows that The JB Trust is now recognised as a credible local charity, and not just a memorial fund.

Right from the outset of setting The JB Trust up I always felt it had somehow managed to capture the characteristics Jo was well know for – drive, passion, motivation and a desire to be the best she could possibly be. Jo was such an active person and never stopped for anything, she was always moving on to the next challenge or goal. The JB Trust has been such a wonderful thing to have been able to do in Jo’s memory and we are all incredibly grateful for the continued support and interested that is shown in it.

Anyway, back to the training. I can hear Jo now saying ‘Come on Dickie, put your back in to it!’

Cheers,

Rich