In 2012 our friend Jonathan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 33. He has described living with the condition as ‘one for the price of ten’ – every one of his movement requires ten times more effort than it does for most people.

With this in mind we have set ourselves a challenge to raise money for Parkinson’s UK. It is only appropriate for us to try something which we find ten times more difficult than most people – running. Neither of us has ever run before. Indeed, neither of us owned a pair of trainers until a week ago.

We aim to run the 5km Big Fun Run in Roundhay Park on Saturday 24 August 2013.

We are also running in memory of our esteemed colleague Phil Robinson who, in his career as a scientific researcher, made significant contributions to our understanding of the cellular basis of Parkinson’s disease. Phil was an excellent scientist with a great deal of integrity and an all-round great bloke too. He is an inspiration to us as scientists and as people. We hope our fundraising efforts help to promote his legacy. 

The challenge for us is not just the run itself, we have to battle against 20+ years of inactivity and un-athleticism.  In light of this it seemed sensible to start seeking sponsorship early on. You can keep a track of our progress on our training blog http://1forthepriceof10.blogspot.co.uk/

If you are interested in learning more about life with Parkinson’s disease, please visit Jonathan’s blog at http://dialoguewithdisability.blogspot.co.uk/

EDIT: I am upping the challenge and running 10km in the Leeds Abbey Dash on 17th November 2013. Please donate!