I am in training now for my first marathon – the Rightmove MK Marathon weekend in Milton Keynes – on 5th and 6th May 2019. On the 5th is a 5km (3 miles) run, and on the 6th is the marathon (42km / 26 miles) - a total of 47km / 29 miles in one weekend.
My main goal is to reach the finish line. My secondary goal is I hope to complete it in less than 4.5 hours. I also hope to use my “Sugar Drop” protocol as an experiment – running without sugar - subject to prior tests, precautions and medical clearance! (More info below.)
I am going to run this marathon in memory of my late mother-and father-in law Fred & Joan Shanks. I’d be very grateful if you could sponsor me any amount large or small to support the Marie Curie charity.
Many of you may know I ran my first official half-marathon in on 6th December 2018. What is less widely known is that sadly, just four weeks before then my mother-in-law Joan Shanks passed away. Just over a year before that, my father-in-law Fred Shanks passed away. I felt very close to them, I often said they were like grandparents to me. Clearly it has been a very difficult time for my wife and me. However, I knew that Joan would have been devastated had I not gone ahead with the “big run” that we had talked about. So, despite my training and preparation for that run having been slashed to less than a third of what I had planned – and very last minute - I went ahead.
Joan was always a very positive person, and despite having been
diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and having suffered the loss of her husband in 2017 she continued to make the best of her life. I’m quite sure she didn’t own an ounce of negativity even to the very end. I think she was a great inspiration and I hope that I can be as positive as her in my later years!
The final few months, and particularly the final few weeks were very tough on all of us. It was in that time we got assistance from Marie Curie Nurses, without whom I am not sure we would have coped. When we knew a nurse would come and stay with mum and keep her safe to the end, the relief felt was tremendous and so valuable. Before this, we had not heard of this service (whilst we had heard of the charity “Marie Curie”). It is for these reasons I’ve chosen to raise funds for them.
If I make it to the finish line – my next goal will be to run 100km (62 miles) at some point in the next few years. (Did I say that “out loud”?)
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