Login
Login

Simon Farley

I'm digging deep for the land I love

My Activity Tracking

240
kms

My target 32 kms

Help me protect threatened ecosystems!

Did you know New South Wales and Queensland are considered worldwide deforestation hotspots? Australia is the only wealthy, 'developed' country where deforestation remains rampant. 

Deforestation is a kind of habitat loss, and habitat loss is the biggest cause of animal extinction. 29 species of mammal have gone extinct in Australia since 1788, as well as a number of bird, reptile and amphibian species. They're gone forever. It's as simple as that.

Bush Heritage is an independent not-for-profit that helps conserve and manage vulnerable ecosystems across Australia, often partnering with Indigenous groups to do so. I think they're doing really important work.

So from November 16 until December 16, I’m going to do something I really hate, in the hope that it will inspire you to donate to Bush Heritage. That something is exercise. I'm committing to walking a minimum of 6,000 steps every day and running a total of 21 kilometres over the course of the month.


That may not sound like much, but bear in mind I can barely run *one* kilometre without stopping. A half-hour bike ride will leave me exhausted for the rest of the day. I'm not fit!

But if you really want me to push further, I'm giving you the opportunity. If you donate $40 or more, I'll let you add a goal or challenge for me. Wanna make me do 1,000 sit-ups? Wanna make me learn how to do the splits? Wanna make me do the beep test? Donate big money and I will suffer at your command!

UPDATE: Thanks to some generous donations, my running target has been increased to 32 kilometres, and I have also been challenged to plank to exhaustion every second day. But by all means, feel free to bring more pain my way!

Because it's not just about getting fit or indulging my masochism - it's about making sure that there are safe homes out there for all the little Australian critters I love. The more you donate, the better equipped Bush Heritage will be to create safe havens for wildlife. That's important - for their survival and for ours too. So dig deep! I don't want to sweat for nothing!

Help me raise funds to protect the bush and our precious native species.

Raised

$1,207

My Goal

$550

Select amount to donate

$57
$105
$163
$
Donate

My Achievements

Set up a page

Upload a profile picture

Share page on Facebook

Self Donate

First Donation

Reached $250

Reached $500

Reached $1,000

Reached your target

Logged first activity

Increased Goal Over $1000

Day Pass

My Updates

Days 29 and 30

Thursday 17th Dec
15/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 23,696

As you can see by that step count, even though I did no running and no burpees today, it still took a lot out of me! A trip to the zoo and adventures around Carlton with some friends contributed to this truly immense amount of walking. 

16/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 1.8km
Steps: 8,570
20 burpees

No records, no PBs today - just limping across the finish line. This month has been really tough but I honestly do feel fitter and stronger than I have in years. Thanks so, so much to everyone who donated! It has all been totally worthwhile.

Days 27 and 28

Monday 14th Dec
13/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 2.1km
Steps: 6,595
25 burpees

Another PB over 1 mile today! Yahoo!

14/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 3.7km
Steps: 7,677
20 burpees

I went for two runs today - on my evening run, I set new PBs over half a mile, one mile and one kilometre (4:31)... But a lot of the run was downhill, so it feels like cheating a bit! 

Although I'm very close to reaching my goals, you can imagine my immense relief when I realised this evening I actually have *two* days left of this challenge - not just one as I thought this morning! So tomorrow will be a little bit of a rest day, at least as far as the running a burpees go. 

Days 21-26

Sunday 13th Dec
7/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 0.7km
Steps: 11,957

Just a quick run today because of the rain! 

8/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 2.1km
Steps: 13,626

You're going to start seeing higher running totals in these updates but I'm not *necessarily* running better/further. Sometimes my totals are cumulative, e.g. today I ran 1.3km, then walked for a bit, then ran another 600ish metres, then walked a bit, then ran 250 metres home.

9/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 2.3km
Steps: 8,257

Unlike yesterday, I ran the 2.3km today without stopping! That's the furthest I've run without stopping since March 2017. Feels pretty good! I also set a new PB over 1 mile and yet another PB over 400 metres!

10/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 2.1km
Steps: 11,116
10 Burpees

Back on the burpees today and they still feel abso-freaking-lutely terrible!

Incidentally, I had a really nice time walking around East Melbourne today - what a beautiful suburb!

11/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 2.2km
Steps: 11,573

12/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 16,116

I really should have run today, but damn - I was underslept, I spent all morning walking around the city in the heat, and everything just felt terrible. Still managed to plank tho!

Days 16-20

Monday 7th Dec
2/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 1.9km
Steps: 6,208

I ran 1.9km today - the furthest I've run without stopping since March 2017! Felt pretty chuffed about that.

3/12
Planking? No.
Running? No.
Steps: 9,761

4/12
Planking? No.
Running? No.
Steps: 17,019

The high step count today can be put down to wandering around the city doing Christmas shopping with Liv. Liv and I also gave blood this day, which hopefully earns me a bit of slacking on the running front.

5/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 6,340

6/12
Planking? No.
Running? Yes. 1.5km
Steps: 7,116

The good news about today was that I set yet another new PB for 400m. 
The bad news was that I realised I only have ten more days to run 18km and do 72 burpees.
I'm boned!

Also I stuffed up my planking again, so I'm going to plank every day for the rest of the challenge period to make up for it. (Why am I such a big dummy?!)

Days 12-15

Wednesday 2nd Dec
28/11
19th
Planking? No.
Running? No.
Steps: 7,412
12 burpees

Thanks to my otherwise wonderful sister, I now have to do 100 burpees. She wanted me to complete that task by the end of November, but given I almost passed out after doing just 12, I'm giving myself till the end of the challenge overall to do them. I know I'm cutting myself a lot of slack - it's called self-care! Look it up! 

29/11
Planking? No.
Running? No.
Steps: 6,440
8 burpees

The good news about today was I rode about 13km on my bike. The bad news was that I forgot to do my planking - which means three planking days in a row to make up for it!

30/11
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 1.4km
Steps: 6,454
8 burpees

1/12
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 1.7km.
Steps: 6,155

Days 8-11

Friday 27th Nov
23/11
19th
Planking? No.
Running? Yes. 1.3km
Steps: 6,587

I set a new PB over 400m - again?! Really shows how much you can improve when you are motivated enough to practice something consistently. Is there a wider lesson in this, applicable to all areas of life? No. 

24/11
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 12,786

25/11
Planking? No.
Running? Yes. 1.4km
Steps: 7,935

Running without a mask on seems to be... more difficult...??? Very confusing.

26/11
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 6,828

Days 4-7

Sunday 22nd Nov
19/11
19th
Planking? No.
Running? No.
Steps: 7,036

A quieter day due to the heat - but I still got to my daily minimum steps!

20/11
Planking? Yes.
Running? Yes. 1.2km
Steps: 7,431

21/11
Planking? No.
Running? No.
Steps: 19,275

A huge walk today with Liv from Thornbury to Kew (with some detours) contributed to the massive step count!

22/11
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 6,237

Today definitely felt like my laziest day so far, and I almost couldn't bring myself to do the requisite planking. I suspect motivation will be my biggest challenge over the next few days!

Day 3

Wednesday 18th Nov
Planking? Yes
Running? Yes. 1.2km
Steps: 7,643

Somehow today I managed to run my PB time over 400 metres *and* over 1 kilometre, despite running with a mask on in 28-degree heat. Not sure how I managed it, but it bodes well for the rest of the month!

Day 2

Tuesday 17th Nov
Planking? No.
Running? Yes. 1.1km
Steps: 6,410

My running started today! 1.1km felt like a decent effort. Only 30.9 to go... 🥴

Day 1

Monday 16th Nov
Planking? Yes.
Running? No.
Steps: 17,961

A huge start to the month steps-wise - nearly triple my daily minimum. A slurpee and an ice cream cone helped fuel my meanderings around Thornbury. 

Thanks to a very generous donation from an anonymous source, I've upped my running target for the month from 21km to 32km (sorry Anonymous but double seemed like too much of a stretch). I'll be making a start on that tomorrow!

Thank you to my Sponsors

$171.22

Peter Farley

$109.62

Martin Ditmann

$109.62

Anonymous

Better double that run total for this.

$104.40

Steph Brown

Awesome thing you’re doing Simon, super proud of you!

$87.70

Anonymous

$87.70

Potato

Great cause! Record a Taylor Swift cover pls :D

$57

Joshua Whittem-chang

Plank to exhaustion every second day.

$57

Taco Kuiper

well done you absolute beast! come to my barre classes to put your burpees and planks to the test ;) xoxo

$52.20

The Business

Please do not feel obliged to do anything more than what you initially set out to do as a result of this donation. Just accept it and run along now.

$52.20

Patrick And Carlie

Challenge is, as stated, to run down Sydney Road, Brunswick, yelling 'Capitalism is good, actually'.

$52.20

Sean Farley

Even though you didn't run the 10km I asked for I will still give you some money. However play me a song, any of the following will do - Dinosaurs by Ruby Fields, Everyday My Mother's Voice by Paul Kelly & Dan Sultan, anything by Holy Holy or Every Time You Cry by John Farnham and Human Nature.

$52.20

Susannah Gordon

I salute you, running is hell.

$41.76

Chook

100 burpees

$41.76

Dollar Match Day

Matched Donation

$36.54

Emily Weir

ur the best

$31.32

Anonymous

$31.32

Dollar Match Day

Matched Donation

$20.88

Bec Brick

Good work!

$10.44

Anonymous

Show more