Posted on 25-September-2014   by Dee Ward

Pete Williamson – Running the Bupa Great Birmingham Run in Aid of Blind Veterans

Pete Williamson (Sales Manager, North) is putting on his trainers again this year to run the Bupa Great Birmingham Run (formerly known as the Birmingham Half Marathon). This year will be his last year for this run kind of event – his Doctor has said that his knees are worse for wear, and that he should stop running these kinds of distances. Keen to keep active, he will however continue to run 5 and 10K events.

Pete started to walk/run after he chose to stop smoking 5 years ago and he noticed that he was slowly seeing his weight increase. He gained over 1 ½ stones (approximately 9 ½ kilograms). He began his new exercise regime with some short 2km walks and slowly increased this to 5km over time. He then mixed walks with runs and over time began to run for the duration of his 5km course. Unsurprisingly Pete saw a big change in his health and his weight reduced from 13st 6lb (approximately 83kgs) to 11st 10lbs (approximately 70kgs).

One day he found out that a friend from years previous, who he had served with in the Armed Forces, had lost his son in Afghanistan and Pete instantly felt that he wanted to show some support in some way. He decided to raise money through his new found love of running and signed up for his first Half Marathon in October 2013 (the Birmingham Half Marathon) in aid of Help for Heroes.

Training for his first half marathon…
Training started in July 2013 with runs of 5 to 7kms three times a week (normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings) starting at 5:15am. Pete reckons that this is the best time to run for him – as there are no people, no dogs, and just the company of fantastic sun rises and wildlife in the park where he runs. He aimed to finish off his week on a Sunday with his big run (around 7km). So, in essence the length of the run starts in July with 5km (3miles) and builds up to 20kms (12miles) two weeks before the actual Half Marathon.

Sponsorship
Last year Pete asked companies to sponsor him for a minimum of £25 and in return he put their logo on the “T” shirt he wore on the day. He would like to thank those companies (Daniels Healthcare, FitWise, Gama Healthcare and Social Intelligence) and all the individual people who sponsored him – he completed the course in 2 hrs and 46 minutes and raised £580.

How you can support Pete this year…
This year Pete is raising money for Blind Veterans after he learnt that his ex-Manager in the Forces (POMA Nigel Whiteley) had lost his sight and the great work that Blind Veterans does for people like POMA Whiteley.

More about Blind Veterans…
The charity helps blind ex-Service men and women lead independent and fulfilling lives by supporting them with our in-depth expertise, experience and full range of services. They give veterans much-needed support to adjust to sight loss, overcome the challenges of blindness and enjoy daily life. The charity has been offering physical and emotional support to vision impaired veterans since 1915.

Click the button, and help Pete reach his £600+ goal this year.He is looking to beat his record last year and raise more than £600 this year as a fitting end to his half marathon running. Would you like to sponsor Pete and help to raise awareness and support the work of Blind Veterans?

Dee Ward

Dee is the Customer Support and Marketing Manager at Daniels. She is the key force behind a motivated and responsive team who support the Daniels customers and sales representatives day in and day out.