Yet another sponsored run

Hello...long time no blog...

As you may know I run the Race for Life every year for Cancer Research UK. In addition to my usual 5k for Cancer, last year I ran 5k in September at the HydroActive Women's Challenge for Action for ME, the national charity for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

This year I'm stepping it up...I am entered (and have received my orange & purple running vest - lovely) for the British 10k, a run through the streets of London. I am, again running for Action for ME because ME is a hugely misunderstood disease. No one knows this more than people with M.E., like myself.

I have just had to explain it to my boss in the light of me having a possible relapse. I ran just over 2 weeks ago and have been having a low period ever since. Hopefully this won't last too much longer, because I really do need to do more training!! More on that later...

Anyway, any generous readers out there can visit my sponsorship page: www.justgiving.com/runforme

Thank you xx xx xx

Where have you been?

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

I know I have posted this before, but I've been to more places now! Sorry (again) for being a rubbish blogger. I have spent about 3 weeks living sleeping dreaming Brownie Holiday which is very dull for anyone who isn't a) a Brownie Guider or b) a HUGE fan of the Mr Men...

I have signed up to run 10k in July for Action for M.E. If you're feeling generous, my fundraising page is here. Help to inspire me to run!!

Soon I will post soon! But in the meantime, where have you been??

Race for Life (& Harry Potter!)

I resisted temptation and did not go and buy Harry Potter at midnight. I seriously considered it - as this is the last one and all - but common sense prevailed and I slept instead.

Kate, Lisa and I managed the Race for Life this year - Kate's third, Lisa's first and my fifth. I ran about 3.5k of the 5, Lisa ran 3 ish and Kate ran "just less than 5". What really matters is that we raised £470 between us (not including Gift Aid). There are still some people left to sponsor us (ahem, Phil), so hopefully we'll break the £500 mark, which would be amazing. Thank you to EVERYONE who sponsored us!! It did show me that I really have to do some training for the one in September though, so that will give me something to do that isn't my dissertation for the coming months!

I sucumbed (how many c's?) and bought HP at Waterloo Station. So far just as readable as the others and already 2 characters are dead - devastating! I won't say anymore...I'm off to climb into my cupboard under the stairs and read some more!

PS: Liz, I hope you're not too flooded??

ME and me

with MS, it is better to concentrate on what you are able to achieve with
relative ease and leave to others those things that will only make matters worse

Shirl

I have put the quote from Shirl above because, although its about MS, it is also very applicable to ME.

Probably most of you know that I have ME. Probably most of you don't know what ME actually is. Please forgive me if I seem to be patronising, but nine times out of ten people think that ME is "just being tired".

When you're ill t's like having the worst flu of your life. Every single cell of your body (no joke) feels like its on fire. If you stand up you're dizzy. If you lie down you feel sick. Your body aches with fatigue, your brain is made of cotton wool. If you can get to sleep you're lucky - and if you do you won't feel any better for it. There is only one thing to do, and that's wait for it to pass.

I am one of the lucky ones. I can study full time, I can work full time (ish), I have an active and (possibly too) busy social life. I have friends and relations who look after me, and almost understand what's going on when I say "sorry, I can't come out, I'm too tired". Because being too tired on a normal day means being dizzy and feeling sick. Being too tired on a bad day means retreating to bed and trying not to think. I often have "brain fog" - not being able to string a sentence together, or getting halfway through a sentence and having to leave it because I can't remember what I was saying. This makes me come across as very stupid, which is incredibly frustrating.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you all this. In September I am running 5k for Action for ME, the national ME charity. I would dearly like to raise a lot of money for this wonderful charity who make life worth living for people who are severly affected by ME. This is another cheeky request for sponsorship. You can sponsor me here:



I will be incredibly grateful for the smallest amount to help me reach my target.

Thank you xx

Race For Life

It's that time of year again... emails coming round asking for sponsorship. People foisting sponsor forms at you when you're least expecting it.

And here I am, blogging about it! I am running the Race For Life for the 5th year running (no pun intended) on 21st July at Regent's Park. My sponsorship link is on the sidebar, or you can click on this link.

Every penny helps! Last year I raised over £400, I'd love to do the same again this year. Wish me luck with the training!!

Another busy week...

Well, I didn't die in Newcastle (hoorah!).

Kate and I completed the Race for Life in a slightly less than respectable time, but never mind, at least we did it. I ran 1k, walked 1k, for the whole thing, thus running about 3k of the 5. The course was round Newcastle Racecourse in Gosforth, which we were initially pleased about as we assumed it would be flat... Sadly not, and the ground was really rocky and uneven to boot. At one point we all (all 4,000 of us...) had to cross a "bridge", or at least, a few planks of wood across a stream. Needless to say, this held up the proceedings some what, as you could only get 2 people on the bridge at one time... Anyway, we finished it, and got our medals at the end! Then it was back on the train to London, with a number of tremendously drunk people, one of whom fell asleep whilst clasping a glass of beer, which he proceeded to throw over the woman next to me...

As a consequence of my incredibly busy weekend (I was at Brownie Pack Holiday on the Friday night and Saturday morning), I was ill on Monday andTuesday, which at least gave me a chance to breathe, and sit out and enjoy the sunshine. It's amazing the properties of Vitamin D... But that's probably a blog all of its own. So yesterday I was back at work, still as boring as ever (my brain is atrophying as I type), but hey, its money, and it's only until September!