It was the 9th December and there I was standing on the start line of the Keyworth Scouts 30th annual Turkey Trot Half Marathon.
The reason I was there had all begun with a conversation I’d had with my sister some three months earlier. She had, in the past two years, at the tender age of ** (she wouldn’t appreciate me advertising her age!) taken up running and had been regularly running 10KM and half marathons, she had also completed the Edinburgh Marathon earlier in 2012.
As I was due to fly back to the UK to see my parents at Christmas I had jokingly said to my sister that if there was a 10KM or fun run in the local area I would support her and take part. A phone call a month later led to informing me that she had applied for the both of us to take part in the Turkey Trot and that we were in!
GULP….training commenced, although several years ago I had completed half marathons and three marathons, the previous decade had passed without any form of training. It was during these early training runs that I began to think of how my pain could be turned into gain and having run the 2003 Flora London Marathon for Children with Leukemia I felt that raising money for a local charity would be a good idea. We had recently been involved with the rehoming of Dee’s dogs through Action for Animals and realised how essential funding is in order for it to carry out its work.
So there I was Action for Animals T shirt and Elf hat in place ready to go. 2hrs 14 minutes and 19seconds later and in 732 and 733 places respectively from a starting lineup of 1100, my sister and I crossed the line.
Many thanks go to all of the individual sponsors, to Nina at the Action for Animals shop, Lisa and Juan of Naturvets, Gloypat, Marco Polo, Terteria Herbabuena who have all donated and managed to raise €380 which will all go to helping animals in distress.
On the 3rd February 2013 I will be taking part in the Torremolinos Half Marathon in preparation for the Mablethorpe Marathon in October, watch out for those sponsorship forms!
