Race for Life 2019

#letsmakeitabelter

Well that was fun!!!! (did you see me ring the bell!)

I knew i wanted to do the race for life this year. The Rheumatoid arthritis is under control but its not going to get better! I wanted to run one last race before things progress. If i get to run some more - great! if i cant then at least i #madeitabelter !!!

I downloaded the NHS couch to 5k app, its fabulous, hearing Sanjeev Kholi cheering me on while training was ace.

I put up the just giving page about 3 weeks before the race. i was a bit hesitant to put a target of £500 as i thought that was a bit ambitious ..... ahhhh foolish Budsmam you forget the fabulous people you know!

I put my whole story on the just giving page. Its taken me a while to be able to articulate it even in outline and in a lighthearted way. I did approach chemo with the whole "feck if this is the last six months of my life im going out with a bang" attitude but the aftermath, when everyone thinks you are happy and better, well those were the darkest days when reality hits and you know that you are blooming grateful to still be here but you have to pick up the pieces of your broken body and try and see what you can do with it.

Anyhoo, im still doing pretty well! ach yes the old Rheumatoid Arthritis, lets not forget that eh???!!! I think it was Bette Davis who said "old age aint for sissys" (please pardon politically incorrect language but it is so apt) well its not for the faint hearted, but its here i need to deal with it so deal with it i blooming well will do.

right back to Race for life. I thought the hashtag #letsmakeitabelter was apt. I started posting daft pictures of my training and me in my chemo hats:

and i watched ...

What the whattity!

OMG

!!!!!!!!

I was of course ably assisted in my fundraising my my felty/knitted chums :-)

Its now currently standing at £1780 plus £377.50 gift aid ...... to say i am blown away is an understatement! Every donation had a story, someone they loved who had gone or was undergoing treatment. I cried a lot. Some people apologised for "only" donating a fiver or a tenner,  i cried at that too. All those fivers and tenner add up to well over 2k and a fiver is a huge amount,  i loved every single donation. I have to mention though a childhood sweetheart (he adored me when i was 5 years old!!!!) he donated a hundred to get me up to 1.5k, Gary Masson you are still a sweetheart! His mother survived breast cancer.

The day itself was everything i wanted it to be. The weather was glorious, there were springy lambs in the fields

The venue is hopetoun house just outside Edinburgh, its a gorgeous stately home.

We  have our routine for the race for life. Ower Scoobs helps me on with my number and back sign.

I managed to run most of the race which was my hope from the start, my time was 40 minutes which was respectable i think. Anyhoo the main thing is that i did it!

Last ritual is a burger and a cup of tea at the burger van with the wonderful Scoobs. He is at every finish line for me.