Itomic’s Melbourne-based CEO, Ross Gerring, is raising money for GOSH – Great Ormond Street Hospital for Kids.
Q. What are you doing?
A. I’m running the Sydney Marathon on Sunday September 22nd 2013.
Q. Why?
A. Annie our “ace” Production Manager in Perth… her nephew Boris was born late last year with cancer, which was a huge shock for everyone. He’s been receiving amazing care and treatment at GOSH in London, and I thought I could help a bit. Plus the fact that I’ve never run a marathon before, I’ve always wanted to run one (bucket list and all that!), and I’m not getting any younger! Oh, and I could do with losing a few kilos.
Q. How’s the training going?
A. Not ideal! I don’t run much normally (except after my 4 kids), so getting into the swing of things was quite challenging. My back and calf muscles are particularly prone to injury, which has thrown me off my training plan a few times.
Q. Itomic + 4 kids – how do you find the time to train?
A. With difficulty! I have to sneak training sessions in when I can. I swim when the kids have swimming lessons. I go for a run while the kids are at cubs and scouts. I get up early’ish on a Sunday morning to avoid being out of commission for the whole day.
Q. Do you have a target time to run the marathon in?
A. Hmmm. I originally had a target time of between 4.5 and 5 hours. If I don’t have any more injuries while training, and if my body holds up during the marathon, I think this is still achievable. But honestly – just finishing it is my goal. And I *will* finish it.
Q. You’re a gadget man. What are you using to help you train?
A. On the recommendation of some more experienced friends, I’m using the “Runtastic” app on my smartphone, plus a nice pair of sporty Sennheiser headphones. A great combo! Every kilometre I get told my pace/speed, approx. calories burnt, time so far, etc. Nice!
Q. How’s Boris doing?
A. Amazing well, against the odds. The wonderful news is that just a week or so ago his tests were coming back clear of cancer. Unreal! He’s still got some heavy duty therapy for the rest of the year just to be really sure. It’s the best possible news.
Q, Are you keeping a blog? Where can I donate to GOSH?
A. I thought you’d never ask! Here’s the blog: http://ross-first-marathon.blogspot.com.au/ and the donation page is here: http://www.justgiving.com/Ross-Gerring. Please give generously! Thanks so much.