Here is the interview I did in English for my Moscow marathon charity running campaign at work (Моё интервью на английском в поддержку благотворительного марафонского забега на работе):
— What made you start helping charity organisations?
Just started doing this at some point while living in London, it is very common there — to support charity organizations and help people in need if you can. First I donated my old and unused clothes to British Heart Foundation instead of throwing them away, then started supporting Wikipedia as this is the resource I use extensively and it seemed natural to thank them, then, once I have moved back to Moscow, I started supporting WWF Russia. And the latest donation I made to Vykhod (Way Out) Fund Saint-Petersburg (Фонд «Выход в Петербурге») for their program of supporting and helping people with autism «Anton is here» («Антон тут рядом») — it is one of the first organisations helping people with autism in Russia.
— Why did you decide to support Deti Nashi charity fund and could you please tell more about it?
I have been contemplating to run my first marathon for a while by then. I have finally settled on it, signed up for Moscow Marathon and was looking for a charity organisation in Russia to run as a charity runner for them, which, again, is a widespread thing in London, especially when running London Marathon. As it is totally new endeavour in Russia, it proved really difficult to find an organization to run for (for example, I first of all contacted Way Out Fund to run for them, but they did not even respond) as almost all of them know nothing about it (I heard the same story from many charity runners from the team).
Deti Nashi is probably the first charity fund in Russia to do so — they have set up a special program Help while Running (Помогу на бегу) and have been looking people on Facebook, where we came across each other. There is now a team of 16 charity runners who will run for Deti Nashi charity fund on Moscow Marathon 21st of September.
— Who is a charity runner?
Charity runner is a person who participates in an official running event — normally, 10K, half-marathon or marathon — with the aim to run that distance, quite often at the first time, and who teams up with a charity organization to raise money for their programs.
— How does it work?
Charity fund provides you with a registration at an event, T-shirts and other insignia for you to wear while training and running, so you promote their good cause. At the same time, you raise money for their cause. Usually, there is an agreed sum every runner tries to raise for that fund before the event. In my case, it is 40000 roubles — and I’m still far from accomplishing this with around 18000 roubles raised so far (upd: amount at the moment of publishing the interview).
— How did you start to run marathons? Why marathon?
Actually, it will be my first marathon. A year ago I have run half-marathon, so now is time to up the ante, summon up the courage to finally run a marathon. Why — because it is a good way to test your limits and overcome them.
— Is it your first charity marathon?
Yes, it will be my first charity run and first marathon.
— What emotions do you experience? Who supports you?
It is a very potent cocktail of sheer bliss, anxiety, adrenaline and fear of failure. My friends and relatives, as well as other charity runners from the team, support me — their support is very important for me to make it.
— Do some of your friends/ colleagues also want to participate in such events in the future?
None so far. Everyone says the usual «sounds like fun, but we will see» at the moment. Hopefully, after I will have done it successfully, someone will follow the suit. Common, people, it is fun and joy, indeed!
