Alex Croucher
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Fundraising for Hospice UK
Story
Dear All
A HUGE thank you to you all for your very generous sponsorships - so far a total of £726.00 towards Help the Hospices and I know there is still more to come in.
I completed my first marathon on Sunday 23rd May in 4hours and 17 minutes in temperatures only one can describe as pretty awful for a marathon run - 28 degrees so I was told and the hottest they have had! Never have I been so upset to see the sun shining, (the BBC weather said heavy showers all day and top temp of 19 - what do they know!!) but I was ever so grateful to all those lovely Scots who cooled us down by bringing out their hoses and sprinklers and giving us a good soaking to keep us cool.
Although slightly disappointed with my time in,as I had set myself a sub 4hr goal, I feel such a huge sense of achievement for having done such a great run and distance and it was touching to read others people's vests who were running for various charities or loved ones who had passed away.
It was a fabulous day, despite the warm weather and the massage I was given in the tent at the end was just heaven - so good that I fell asleep on the massage table and had to be woken up! To top it all off as well it was lovely to have had my Uncle there who also ran. Despite injury, starting from the very back and only having really trained again in the last 7 or so weeks, he completed it in an amazing time of 3hrs50mins! A quick shower after and a few Unclely words of advice (ie that no wonder I crashed and burnt at 20 miles due to no energy and that I should have eaten some energy bars and drank some energy drinks round the course - of which I didn't at all ) he waved his goodbyes and was off to catch a train to Glasgow to see some friends. One would never have known he had just run 26 miles! I need to find out his secret!
So many thanks again to you all. To my mother as well who came up with me, put up with my nervous mood swings and who was a great support. I would have given up much earlier in the race if it wasn't for the fact of all your generosity towards my chosen charity and your words of encouragement.
A HUGE thank you to you all for your very generous sponsorships - so far a total of £726.00 towards Help the Hospices and I know there is still more to come in.
I completed my first marathon on Sunday 23rd May in 4hours and 17 minutes in temperatures only one can describe as pretty awful for a marathon run - 28 degrees so I was told and the hottest they have had! Never have I been so upset to see the sun shining, (the BBC weather said heavy showers all day and top temp of 19 - what do they know!!) but I was ever so grateful to all those lovely Scots who cooled us down by bringing out their hoses and sprinklers and giving us a good soaking to keep us cool.
Although slightly disappointed with my time in,as I had set myself a sub 4hr goal, I feel such a huge sense of achievement for having done such a great run and distance and it was touching to read others people's vests who were running for various charities or loved ones who had passed away.
It was a fabulous day, despite the warm weather and the massage I was given in the tent at the end was just heaven - so good that I fell asleep on the massage table and had to be woken up! To top it all off as well it was lovely to have had my Uncle there who also ran. Despite injury, starting from the very back and only having really trained again in the last 7 or so weeks, he completed it in an amazing time of 3hrs50mins! A quick shower after and a few Unclely words of advice (ie that no wonder I crashed and burnt at 20 miles due to no energy and that I should have eaten some energy bars and drank some energy drinks round the course - of which I didn't at all ) he waved his goodbyes and was off to catch a train to Glasgow to see some friends. One would never have known he had just run 26 miles! I need to find out his secret!
So many thanks again to you all. To my mother as well who came up with me, put up with my nervous mood swings and who was a great support. I would have given up much earlier in the race if it wasn't for the fact of all your generosity towards my chosen charity and your words of encouragement.
Why have I chosen Help the Hospices you may ask? Well last year we decided to have a bit of a clear out and had a 5ft Barney the Dinosaur stuffed toy that needed a new home. We wanted another child to enjoy it as much as our daughter had so we phoned Christophers Chase Hospice for Children near Guildford. At first they said no as they do not accept stuffed toys due to germs but then advised us they would love to have him as they had a very sick child who was "Barney mad." My husband went in to take Barney to his new owner as my daughter and I sat in the car and she asked me if the little boy who would take Barney would have him forever and ever. I found that so sad knowing how ill all those children were in the hospice, but couldn't explain that to my four year old. The whole place was so tranquil yet provided a loving and caring environment and this as well as experiencing another hospice where my grandfather spent some of his last few days, made me decide this charity was the one!
Help the Hospices represent and support local hospices . They work with them and other organisations as they strive to grow and improve hospice and palliative care throughout the UK and across the world.
Their services are here to support hospice people and champion the voice of hospice care.They include a wide range of training and education programmes, informative andpractical resources for hospice staff, work to influence government policy and support for quality care and good practice. They also run fundraising programmes and campaigns that raise funds directly for their member hospices.
Alex
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