Hey Everybody!
                                 WE DID IT!

       Edinburgh Marathon Relay - Sun 25th May 2008

                       THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

                            (keep reading for highlights from the day)

Christian's Against Poverty (CAP) are a brilliant charity, helping thousands of people every year to deal with and get out of one of the UK's most major problems - Debt. They offer their services completely free. www.capuk.org

I am one of those thousands and on Sunday 25th May 08, I and a bunch of my nutty family ran in the Edinburgh Marathon Team Relay. - Definitely a less painful way to do it!

This page will remain open for a while, so if you'd like to still donate, please do. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Christians Against Poverty will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Thank you! Janice

Marathon Highlights

Arrived in Edinburgh the day before & the weather was good enough to have the sunglasses out. After picking up all the necessary running bits at the Expo e.g. running numbers, we met up to go to the CAP pasta party. - All were pleasantly surprised that it tasted so good, though it was too spicy for one person.

Woke up very early on marathon morning & was greeted by slightly chilier weather. This gave certain family members ammunition, especially when we got dropped off at our changeover point (Port Seaton) and were greeted with a patch of grass, the sea wall & the sea! Can you imagine the sea breeze? Well, needless to say, we were glad when after trying to brave it out, we realised we could sit on the bus

The shuttle bus to our changeover point found us being almost asphixiated by the smell of ralgex & wondering how far we were being taken, we saw signs for London & that just set the jokes rollling. According to my cousin, as you looked out to sea, you could see Spain, then it became South Africa & ended up being Jamaica!

More to come...

If you wanna know a little bit of my story, read on:

How it began
My 'journey' with debt began in university, away from home for the first time (1993) and being offered all manner of incentives. You know how it is, they throw everything at you, and I guess coming from not really having to worry or think about how I spent money to having credit cards, overdrafts, student loans x2, store cards, student discounts and on and on and on at your disposal with very little inconvenience to myself bar a few signatures was too much for me. Now don't get me wrong, I am taking responsibility for my actions, its just all a bit dazzling when you're entering that arena for the first time. I went from having a post office account & probably a really basic savings account to all of the above.

So I left university in debt (don't know how much), a situation that lots of students, before & since have faced & in the long-term will likely face...

...Despite getting a job that would have made a dent in my debt, I didn't take control of my finances. I just didn't have the mindset to do so, didn't have an organised way of thinking about money. It's strange, as my parents never set a bad example with money...

...I moved to Leicester in 1998 to work & carried most of my debt with me. It had in fact increased due to taking on a mobile phone, continuing to buy clothes, cds etc on store cards. I probably sound like a scratched record when I say I lacked discipline in my finances....

Most embarrassing moment
·    Having a tracing agency contact my Mum and a member of my church who once provided a reference for me
·    Having collectors go to my home in London and having my Dad ring me with the details cos obviously I didn't want them to know. You see it was a sign of failure, another thing for my parents to be disappointed about.
·    Owing a Christian book / music company money. It was my smallest debt, but I think I probably felt the most shamed by it!

Most difficult moments
·    Realising that they were some lengths I contemplated going to that I never would have believed would have entered my thoughts.
·    Having people round and having to sneakily turn off the electric heater as my electric was running out at an alarming rate. - And then having to turn it back on when they said/I could see they were cold, probably making up some excuse for why it went off.

The GOOD bit:
.    God was with me through it all
.    December 2002, became a CAP client
.    March 2004, became debt free

There's sooooo much more I could say & there are many others who CAP have & are helping who have deeper stories than mine. http://capuk.org/reallife

THANKS!