ElephantBanjoGnome wrote:
I feel the same way about people that refer to these 26 mile 'moonwalks' as marathons. A marathon is something you run. Anything else is a long walk. Walking is easy.
As I've said before, if you're doing something for 'charity' it should be something that at least requires some form of training or practice prior to the event itself, and one that you don't commonly do (such as you say, or rowing some distance), and must have some level of hardship involved for it to be of any merit. Ambling around a flat lake in an afternoon doesn't count, as you'll spend more time on foot shopping in London. Had my friend stuck a time limit on it, say "I'll go around this lake in an hour and a half" or "How many times can I walk around this lake in 6 hours" then I'd consider it. See also "going on holiday for charity", "jumping out of an aeroplane for charity", "not talking for charity", "giving up booze for lent/a week in January", "abseiling for charity", "bungee jumping for charity", "firewalking for charity", "playing computer games all day for charity". I'd consider "listening to the entirity of the Ring cycle for charity" as that fulfills my criteria. Trouble is, once these things get announced on social media with a comments section, it becomes hard to not do this, so I blame the justgiving websites and things for devaluing human achievement and immolation.