07/11/2010

Update again - sadly I've had a really tough year with injuries and it seems the Cardiff Half has done me in again. After having treatment from my physio I'm reluctantly taking his advice and deciding that the Gower run on the 13th November will be my last this year, and I'll have to reduce it to the 10K run (I've been told not to do it at all but hey, I don't really like being told what not to do!). I hate to let people down and pulling out of races really is the last option, but I want to be fit to run and fight long into the future. So please, if you can, give just a couple of pounds and help me get round the brutal coastal course. It's shorter but trust me it's tough going!! Thank you, as always.

22/10/2010

Hello All! Just a little update - I completed the Cardiff Half with a personal best by a whopping 16 mins, proper training really does pay off apparently. I've got two coastal trail runs coming up and I can assure you these are seriously tough - blood, sweat and tears are a given, and probably a little swim in the sea again this year! 

As most of you know, running is a huge passion in my life. But my sister is my absolute world. It is so very hard to see her in pain every day and know that there is nothing I can physically do to take it away. All this running isn't about me, it's about doing something to keep her going, to give her the support that she deserves and most of all to say that life can be enjoyed, even on tougher days. 

Thank you all for showing Claire that you care so much. You are wonderful. 

Take a look at the Arthritis Care site to see what I've got coming up next for the charity - please sponsor again if you can, your kindness gets me through each challenge! http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/GetInvolved/Events/Latestnews/CiaraHovey-CardiffHalfMarathon

Ciara

"What matters is not necessarily the size of the person in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the person."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Bring on the challenge!

This year I'm really excited to be running several races for Arthritis Care, a UK charity that helps support people suffering with arthritis. These will start with the Cardiff Half Marathon on 17^th October followed by some coastal trail half marathons in the Gower and around the island of Portland in Dorset later in the year.

I am motivated to do this to show my support and love for my little sister who, at the age of 25, has severe arthritis in her hands and lives with chronic pain. It has been a long and difficult path for her to come to terms with her condition and the implications it has on her everyday life, but her incredible personality never fails to amaze me. She is beautiful, she is kind, she is the funniest and wittiest person I know, she strives to get as much out of her hobbies as she always could before and she never fails to be the most supportive sister a girl could wish for, even on a ‘bad hand day’. Sometimes it’s hard for her to see the future as she thought it may have worked out and to accept that things might get worse, but she always manages to find some creative way of making life challenging, exciting and fulfilling.

Claire owes a lot to the Bronllys Pain Management Centre residential course in Brecon which helped her to learn techniques in managing her life around being in pain. But it is something that will never be easy to live with, especially dealing with the stigma attached to having a disability that you can’t actually see – but she just gets on with life.

Arthritis, in its most severe form, is an incredibly debilitating disease, not just physically but mentally too. It is not, as is commonly thought, a disease that just affects the elderly. Arthritis Care exists to support people with arthritis. They are the UK’s largest charity working with and for all people who have arthritis and do an incredible amount of work to help people with arthritis take control and manage life to its fullest.  

 Please give as little or as much as you can afford to show your support for this great cause (and to make sure I keep running). Both Claire and I are so thankful for your kind donations, and I know that Arthritis Care will make great use of this money.

Get in on the action too by joining us on the day - come and cheer me on and most definitely join me in the pub afterwards!!

Thank you, Ciara

  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.