Marathon in a Month: June 2011

Friday, 17 June 2011

Thank you Mr Davies - for finding my motivation

Well, over the last couple of weeks I've really struggled. The runs I have been on have been difficult, painful, and if I'm perfectly honest, I have so many doubts creeping in about how on earth I'm going to firstly make it round one half marathon course, and then manage to recover, re-motivate myself, get over any injury niggles and three weeks later do the second half marathon, that I really think I have probably bitten off much more than I can chew.

But then, I see something today on the news that makes me realise just how important it is for charities such as the NRAS to keep spreading the word on debilitating conditions and make sure that everyone knows and realises how important it is to support people with conditions such as RA. MP Philip Davies has shown exactly how ignorant people can be of those with disabilities and exactly why charities need to continue to support and educate people.

Mr Davies has come out today and informed everyone that vulnerable jobseekers including those that are disabled should be willing to accept lower wages (lower than the minimum wage) so that they can work. So, instead of promoting the need for better understanding within businesses of disabilities etc, it appears people with disabilities, whether they be metal or physical, should just accept that they are likely to be discriminated against and therefore cut their value so that they can work.

As well as supporting RA sufferers and their families and setting up a fantastic support network, the NRAS are also involved in lobbying parliament, for fairer terms for the disabled, for lower or free prescriptions for those with lifelong illnesses. The sponsorship that you guys are giving helps the NRAS in so many ways, and the comments by Mr Davies today have helped me to re-find my motivation. To rediscover the reasons why I put myself through this and to help stop the ignorance that exists towards RA sufferers.

So Mr Davies - thank you for your total ignorance, you've helped me find my motivation to really step up the training and spread the word far and wide.

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

And it begins, again

Well, this constitutes my first post on the marathon in a month blog. Hello!

Let me introduce myself; I'm Jen, one of Simone's colleagues, and a 'i get points for trying' kind of runner. I'm not meant for running, really--i've got collapsed arches, wonky knees and a weekly hot date where I get manhandled by my physio. I trained for, then ran the London Marathon this year and then swiftly, promptly, quickly tried to bury the hitting the wall feeling of the last six miles by not running for the past two months.

The relaxing, sleeping in and copious amounts of wine tippling have been glorious, but i've been vowing to get my nine toenailed feet back into my asics for the past three weeks (what they don't tell you about long distance running tip #1: you may lose (several) toenails). And on Tuesday, it happened. I wheezed my way around crouch end, hornsey and up the neverending slightly sloping hill of finsbury park for a 4.2 mile run. I'm back!

As my first test of endurance, i've signed up for the Battersea Park Boutique Run 10k on 9 July. I will, hopefully, at this point, have already completed far longer than a 10k, but regardless check it out here: boutique run.

And if i'm feeling extra ambitious, I may follow this with the British 10k through Central London the next morning on 10 July. Note: the course does take you through some of the nicer bits of the london marathon route. Find info here: british 10k.

anyone interested?

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Picture Time

Well over the last couple of weeks I've failed miserably to set up a slideshow gadget on the side of the blog, so instead, thought I'd post a blog with them in so you can see just what we have been up to in the past!!