Hi everyone!

 

Thank you ever so much to all of you for your very generous sponsorship pledges for our Bath Half Marathon Challenge! Without you I think I may have decided to stay in bed that day! 

 

I don’t mind telling you that I really struggled with the first 6 miles and found the whole thing an even bigger challenge than I had ever anticipated, but with my wonderful friend and colleague, Cat Savage, shouting encouragement for the whole 13 miles, and never leaving my side (even at the 1-mile marker when I discovered my camel bag was leaking Lucozade all down my back, and we had to stop at the roadside to empty it!) we finally made it over the finish line after 2hrs 46 mins. I really couldn't have done it without her (and she undoubtedly could have finished the race a lot quicker without me!).

 

My diabetes added to the challenge (I had low blood sugar 1 hour before the race was due to start – panic stations!!) so I am feeling really pleased with myself that I managed to finish the race. Having to stop every two miles to do a blood test and eat jelly babies certainly made the run interesting!! And let's not even mention how erratic my blood glucose levels have been since the run (the blood sugar can drop dramatically any time without warning for up to 48 hours after a long run!). But it was amazingly inspiring to see how many different charities were represented on the day, and to witness such camaraderie amongst some of the runners, not to mention the fabulous supporters who stood for hours and cheered everyone on.

 

So, massive thanks to you once again, from the bottom of my heart, for helping us to raise such a tremendous amount for a cause that is very close to my heart. I am sure that Ed was watching us on the day and cheering us on, I just hope I made my big brother proud.

 

Love and best wishes

 

Vicky

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Did you know that more people under 40 die of a brain tumour than any other cancer?
Or that brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of UK children?

SO, ON 6TH MARCH 2011 VIC & SHEP WILL BE RUNNING THE BATH HALF MARATHON IN AID OF BRAIN TUMOUR RESEARCH!

Vic's story:

As many of you know I lost my brother, Ed at the young age of just 26. Ed battled a brain tumour for 2 long years, and his courage and optimism will always remind me what a brave man he was. This year Shep and I decided it was about time we did some fund-raising in Ed's name to help the fight against this vicious killer.

I don't run. At all.  So as I'm sure you can imagine I am DREADING this challenge. But that's why it's so important that you all PLEASE DIG DEEP and donate as much as you can to this really worthwhile charity. I am seriously worried that I won't be able to finish the race and my training is only reinforcing that fact!! It's getting scary now!  Therefore any small amount you can spare will help to put a smile on the face of this wheezy, asthmatic, diabetic as she desperately pushes herself around the course in the hope of crossing that finishing line!!

Shep's story:

I've never done anything for charity before and when Vic mentioned that she was thinking of running the Bath Half I felt really proud of her. I wasn't allowed to accompany her on the sky-dive (her last fundraising event) as I was apparently deemed "too heavy"!! So it didn't take me long to decide that I would join her and help raise funds for Brain Tumour Research (well, Ed would have been my brother-in-law after all!)

Training has been hard so far, mainly because Vic is so slow that I have to keep doubling back to check on her!!  I know that most of you will be thinking that this is a walk in the park for an athlete like me, but having not done any exercise for the past two years I can assure you it's proving much harder than I anticipated!

So please donate any spare change you can find to spur me on! 

About the charity:

Brain Tumour Research aims to raise at least £7M per year, in the hope that they will be in a position to compete favourably with survival statistics in North America and other, better-funded, nations and bring renewed hope for improved outcomes to brain tumour sufferers.

Cancer Research dominate much of the fundraising in the UK for cancer charities. But did you know that 25% of all cancers spread to the brain?

 So please be generous and help us to raise Brain Tumour Research the money they need to start finding a cure for this terrible illness.

If you can, please take the time to read some of the stories on the Brain Tumour Research website (www.braintumourresearch.org) and to look at some of the statistics:

"In hope" tells the stories of many brave soldiers who continue to battle their brain tumours. It gives some inspiring insight into the tales of these courageous souls who have survived and now attempt to regain some normality in their lives.

"In our hearts" tells the heartbreaking stories of those who fought hard but eventually lost their battle against "the Big C".

We hope that this might give you a vague sense of how it feels to witness someone losing their battle to this horrendous form of cancer, and perhaps give you an idea of how common brain tumours are.

Thank you for visiting our page.

PLEASE BE GENEROUS, AND WISH US LUCK!!!