So, after saying I would give it a miss this year (/never walk again) life happens and things change, and here we are… a lovely friend of mine was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease last year; it has understandably turned her world upside down, but Anita is an absolute warrior and not someone to let her anything stand in her way, so she has signed up to do the 1st half /50km of the IOW Ultra Challenge on Saturday 2nd May. This will be a huge challenge for Anita, but she is driven with fierce determination and passion for the cause: she is doing this in part to say a big ‘f*** you’ to Parkinson’s, but also to fundraise for Parkinson’s UK and raise awareness & understanding around this awful disease. So (after saying I never would again) I am going to be walking with Anita as part of her support crew & team ‘Puck Parkinson’s’. It will be really interesting to do the 1st half with other people and going at a group’s pace, but I’m super excited to be sharing this adventure with Anita & feel privileged to be part of her team 💙

Here is the link for Anita’s JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/anita-puckett-puckparkinsons?utm_source=FB&fbclid=IwdGRjcAQPmCtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEegwZ8omCw0cAjMeEVf5UOFvwXhS9OQtoJurL2MDOpSvLUwTBiiU3aeuMjEG4_aem_jAdV4YsKdet2_p0NDwrv1Q

As I have fundraised for the past two years for 2 charities very close to my own heart I decided to fully self-fund my place this year and just promote Anita’s cause, and signpost to her JustGiving page. However, it turns out I have to set up my own JustGiving page to be part of her team, so any donations you can spare will be very gratefully received and will be going straight to the amazing work of Parkinson’s UK.

Now that I do have a fundraising page though I have decided to try and make it worthwhile and do the 2nd half challenge as well on Sunday 3rd May, so I will be doing the full 106k ultra challenge after all .. ! Doing the full over 2 days actually feels even more daunting than the full continuous as I know I’m definitely a ‘just keep going’ person, and the idea of getting up on that Sunday morning and resetting my headspace to do it all again with all of Saturday’s aches is going to be brutal! But it will be interesting to see the contrast and how it actually plays out. So please do sponsor me if you can to help spur me on, but - above all - to help fund research and resources to improve life for Anita and everyone affected by Parkinson’s. For more information about Parkinson’s UK visit: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/about-us/our-mission