...the words I hear you cry! Yes, I am crazy. I have always said I wanted to run a marathon but had never actually followed through with this comment. Now I have the chance to run London 2010 - I'm entered and there is no bottling it as my efforts will hopefully raise lots of money for a very worthy cause.
In 2006 my brothers best friend, Mark Gallacher tradically lost his life to an undiagnosed heart condition at the young age of 21. Mark, a young, fit, healthy guy had no apparent health problems but sadly his heart stopped during the night and there was no chance to revive him. Sudden Death Syndrome is not something that I knew much about prior to Marks death, however looking into this further I found that every week an estimated 12 “fit and healthy” young people die suddenly from undetected heart conditions. Therefore I decided to run the London Marathon 2010 for CRY ('Cardiac Risk in the Young') in memory of Mark. CRY work tirelessly to both offer support to families and young people affected by undetected heart conditions, and to donate medical equipment to hospitals and GP surgeries. Furthermore the charity aim to raise awareness of the cause amongst medics, politicians, and the general public.
And another thing......
After running my first 10k in 2004, I was suitably proud of myself for completing the course, coming from a non-running background. That afternoon, Mark was at the house and I was enthusiastically telling him how I had just completed the Women's 10k in just over an hour.... to which Mark replied “Aye? Is that all? Even my mum got round quicker than that!!”. So Mark, I personally blame you for starting this running obsession... however, I must add, I can almost guarantee your mum will still be faster than me round the marathon too!
Mark – this one's for you. We all miss you pal xx
No comments:
Post a Comment