By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

On Sunday, 9^th July 2017 a five-member team from Creative Virtual – Rachel, Tracey, Alex, Kristina and myself – will dust off our running shoes and take part in the British 10K to raise money for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). With only about 6 weeks to go until the race, we’ll be stepping up our training and our fundraising efforts. Here are some thoughts on the upcoming run from Tracey and myself:

Tracey says: “This will be my third time participating in a 10K. Well, I say participating because with time it’s now better for me to walk than to run because my knees just can’t handle the extra pressure of running. Despite bad knees, I have signed up this year to literally get myself moving again. My goal is to shave some time off of last year’s time and to keep moving forward!

Since I work remotely, my training once again consists of long walks around the village, through the beautiful asparagus and strawberry fields of our local famer and going through the town of Darmstadt. Just recently, training consisted of a climb up into the hills to see Frankenstein Castle.

I always enjoy telling everyone here and afar about our efforts and getting funds drummed up. The RSPCA is such a worthy charity and it’s great supporting their good work. And nothing beats race day. In addition to the mounting anticipation leading up to the event; the excitement on race day is literally palpable – go team!”

As for me, my first ever ‘official’ run was the British 10K, three years ago. And like this year, it was also to raise money for the RSPCA. Since then I’ve done several other organised runs – and this year I did the London Marathon (I said never again as I crossed the finishing line, but now just a couple of weeks later, I’m contemplating my next one! – that’s what running does, it’s like a drug!).

It’s a great feeling leading up to a run – the training can be hard – especially in the UK winter, but I travel quite a lot and always take my running stuff with me. With all that travelling and meetings, I find that running really helps in all sorts of ways – especially my energy levels. It’s also a great way to do some sightseeing in a new place. I love running beside the sea and river – and it’s a great feeling running on the beach barefoot in the surf. A great sense of freedom and being close to nature.

In our busy lives, being able to take a step back and think about things becomes increasingly difficult: ‘contemplation’ is fast becoming an extinct word from our dictionary! I find running gives me the time and state of mind to help me do this, and certainly helps me running (excuse the pun!) Creative Virtual.

Getting back to the build up to a competitive/organised race: there’s a real buzz on the actual day – everybody is focused on the same thing – and it’s amazing how much fun it is. And when you’re doing it for a really worthwhile cause it makes it even more special. This is the third time our company will be running to raise money for the RSPCA and we couldn’t be more proud to represent such a fantastic charity. Of course, there’s always a competitive edge to it – whether that’s trying to beat somebody at work or setting your own personal goal – it all adds to the fun!

The British 10K being in July means it can sometimes be a bit warm, but at least the training is at a good time of the year. The long light evenings gives lots of opportunity to run after work – and I consider myself very fortunate working and living on the Isle of Dogs, as I’ve got some fantastic running routes: great river runs, to the Tower of London for example, through Wapping; through the foot tunnel to Greenwich Park, up to the observatory (the hill is quite challenging! – as is climbing the stairs in the foot tunnel. I’ve often been tempted to take the lift, especially on those occasions where the lift doors have just opened at the right time!); and it’s easy where I live to combine the River Thames, canals, parks, great views and famous landmarks in a single run. We’ve also got a weekly office running club (that’s some of us pictured above!) going which is good fun.

And it’s not just about the running: raising money for a charity like the RSPCA gets the whole company involved, as well as family and friends; and knowing all these people are supporting you gives you that extra boost!

You can sponsor us by donating through our 10K Justgiving page or by sending a text if you are in the UK to 70070: CVCV50 and an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10.

Thanks for all of your support – Go Team Animal!