Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, which I decided to set up at the end of Day 3 of the 7 Day Challenge ...4 days to go!  I signed up for this Challenge without much thought or training! I was helping a friend who couldn't participate and when she said it consisted of 7 runs over different terrains and distances, 'one run a week for 7 weeks....I can do that' I thought; until I realised that it is a run race each day for a week!! 

The first run was just over 5k...not too long but up and down the cliff steps and hills of Saints Bay and Icart...who would have thought such little steps could be quite so steep, challenging & exhausting.  However, the camaraderie, support and encouragement is amazing and it reminded me of why I started running just 13 years ago, prior to then I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about! I started running when my amazing Mother was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, realising that she would be facing enormous challenges so I set one for myself and here I find myself again.  I cannot call myself a runner...I amble and enjoy the scenery, which isn't difficult here in Guernsey, but the disease is a truly awful and sad way to end one's life.  It took from dear Mum her ability to walk, to talk, to eat, to do anything unaided, but all these she managed with grace, the worst thing was her inability to communicate, she had always been an extraordinary communicator and yet even this was taken from her despite her brain still working with exceptional clarity.  The illness didn't take her determination and she fought it for many years.  

My challenge is an easy one with the support and encouragement of some amazing runners, organisers and cheerleaders, but I thought I would take the opportunity to say thank you and support Motor Neurone Guernsey and the work they do, in the hope that small steps can be taken in the huge challenges they face with this awful disease.  I am truly blessed to be able to run..albeit slowly but always with a smile and always with such appreciation that it is my dear Mother's determination which keeps me going.

Thank you,

Love from Sheila x

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