When I was about 11, I watched the first London Marathon on TV. Just starting my running ‘career’, I guess I thought that one day I would run a marathon. Since running a marathon runs a very high injury risk, and was never likely to be my best distance, in the years I was running seriously the furthest I ever ran was 14 miles. The furthest I have run to date (as of this week!) is 16 miles, but I still have a few weeks to make it towards the 20 mile mark, and then have been advised that somehow I’ll make the last 6 miles when it comes to it!
Why now? Why this year? Well, I thought 42 K at 42 years of
age sounded a good thing to aim for, but since we couldn’t come home to the UK
to sea level last year, I’ve had to wait a year. The idea was to come home in
time to fit in a couple of months training in, but as it is, I’m doing all the
training at altitude and will come to sea level just three weeks before. Great
advantage to be training at altitude you may say – but unfortunately we live
1000m higher than any sensible person would go to train at altitude, with the
result that it is pretty hard to run at all, never mind run a long way. Anyway,
I jog along slowly and by doing that I’ve managed to keep going for 2 hours 40
minutes so far.
The marathon I’ve chosen is Beachy Head since it’s on the
edge of Eastbourne so is my ‘home’ marathon. Perhaps not the best to choose for
my first (and probably only) marathon as it is rather hilly (said to be one of the
hardest course in the UK!), but I figure that I’m training on the side of an
Andean mountain and the hills can’t be any worse! It is also known as one of
the most picturesque marathons, if one has the energy to look at the view.
Please don’t think ‘Oh, Jenny has always run, this will be
easy for her’. I haven’t done any serious running since before Sammy was born,
10 years ago, and even then I was training for races of between 4 and 8 K. So 42 K really is a lot more. And I’m quite
injury prone so can only train three times a week, which isn’t very much.
Although this is mainly a personal challenge, the fulfilment
of a long-held ambition and a way to get fit and have time out in the beautiful
Andean countryside which does me a lot of good, I have decided to try and raise
some money too. Here’s what you can
support:
26 miles – I’ll run a mile for each year my mum has been
severely affected by ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Half of what I raise will go
to the ME Association that supports people with this disabling illness and
funds research.(It is estimated that 250 000 people in Britain have the
disease.)
42 Kilometres – I’ll run a kilometre thankful for each year
of my life that I have been able to run (thinking that I must have run my first
steps at age 1!) – Half of what I raise will go to support Latin Link and our
work in Cusco, including resources for kids in Cusco’s state hospital and funds
for Kallarisunchis micro-finance project.
I don’t have a particular target in mind, but every pound
will help people with a chronic disabling illness, kids who spend weeks, even
months, in a very poorly resourced hospital and families trying to work their
way out of poverty in Cusco. You can pledge a certain amount per mile or
kilometre by sending me an email or facebook message – this will motivate me to
keep going the whole way! Or you can go straight to the Justgiving page now and
donate, in faith that I will make it!! http://www.justgiving.com/JennyBrownRun
Here’s the web site for the marathon details. It’s taking
place on Saturday 26th October, starting at 9am: www.visiteastbourne.com/events/BeachyHeadMarathon.aspx Supporters welcome if you live anywhere near. Here’s the web site of the ME Association: www.meassociation.org.uk
If you want to know more about our work in Cusco and don’t
receive our regular newsletter, please contact us and we can send it. The Latin
Link UK web site is: www.latinlink.org.uk/
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