Tri-ing for UNICEF

I've always known that I'm not doing this just for myself. Though there are selfish goals behind chosing to do the Triathlon, namely getting healthier, I've always wanted to do this for charity as well. I've never done this sort of thing before (i.e. doing an endurance event for charity) and what I've been agonising over is what charity to 'swim/bike/run' for. There are obviously, and I think this applies to everyone, events and issues that have affected me and loved ones throughout my life but there hasn't been one thing that has stood out and that has driven me to 'represent' it during the race.

Having thought about it long and hard I came to the following conclusions. One of the constants in my life, through the grace of God at times, has been my parents. They have dedicated their lives to me and throughout my life there has been nothing they haven't (within reason) tried to 'give' or ensure I had access to. They have supported me in the vast majority of my goals and dreams and have set the foundations for me to hopefully build a long, happy and successful life.

With that as a background and many happy memories of my childhood with my parents (we moved countries when I was young and I am an only child) I find it very hard to imagine living a life without that support mechanism, without a loving family and my heart goes out to all those who haven't had it and huge respect to those who have had these difficulties and have had the strength to move on and succeed (in whatever shape or form that takes).

UNICEF is therefore a charity that hit home and the work they do with orphans and children struggling with HIV/AIDS is something truly inspiring. The odds stacked against these children are enormous and any tiny (and potentially, in the whole scheme of things, insignificant) contribution I can make, and through your support of my efforts, you can make, will be a huge step forward in their lives. What may be something that would barely bring a smile to my face (or a child in a 'developed' country) could be something that would make one of these children's day, month or year. If I can make one child somewhere smile just once, all the training, all the sweat, the achey legs ... they will all be worth it.

That thought is going to be one of the things that'll keep me going come race day ... it just has to.

If you want to support UNICEF through my efforts please go to www.justgiving.com/davidgalea