Heading for a Half Marathon

Unusually I haven’t really mentioned the Norwich Half Marathon on here in great detail.

Maybe I was hoping it would go away if I didn’t mention it, but it won’t and now it’s nearly here.

I signed up for this all the way back last Christmas, but then of course I slacked off horribly all summer as other things took over, before commencing a training plan in extreme panic in August. Since then I’ve worked my way up to a couple of 10 mile runs, both of which were incredibly hard, long and slow, and now this Sunday coming I’m going to run another 5k at the end of one!

So here I am 5 days away from the longest run of my life with a dodgy knee I’ve been resting since my last run last Friday and an unexplained bad back that means I creak like an unoiled hinge when getting up from a chair. I’m planning a short ish run Friday morning, just to remind myself I can, and that’ll be it.

Can I do it? I think so. Can I do it and not come in last? Who knows, but I’m going to give it a go.

After my last run last Friday

I’m not just running this Half Marathon to see if I can though, I’ve also opted to try and raise money for Parkinsons UK. Back in January my Nana died of Parkinsons. It’s a terrible disease, most people only think of it as tremors and shaking, but it comes with a whole host of other problems, from depression, to incontinence and problems communicating. My Nana should have spent the last years of her life working at the History society and enjoying the company of her family, not in and out of hospital with falls and unable to look after herself properly.

I shan’t write much more on this now as I am getting a little teary, but it’s a cause that’s very important to me and not one that gets huge amounts of attention.

So now it’s time for a bit of begging. I would really appreciate your support for this run. It’ll make the effort all worth it if I can raise a lot of money for Parkinsons, and there’s nothing more motivating than thinking I’ll let people down. You can sponsor me on my Just Giving page, just £1 is all I’m asking. Alternatively you can sponsor me by texting RETR51 £1 (or £5 or £10) to 70070.