As many of you will remember last year I took on a trio of challenge events to raise money for NDCS. Thank you to everyone who supported me then and for continuing to support me. 

 

This year the challenge is bigger, my fear is greater and the training has been, quite frankly, horrible.

 

I've never been 'a runner' so for me taking on a half marathon really is a tough challenge. I started training at the beginning of April and have run 3 times a week, every week, since then. My work colleagues can confirm that every training session has been preceded by the words 'I don't want to run today' BUT I have a good reason for choosing to raise money for NDCS and I am determined to do it.

 

NDCS is a fantastic charity that provides information, services and support to deaf children and their families across the UK. My older sister Jo is profoundly deaf and has been since birth. She is also one of the most positive people I know and I figure that if she can overcome all of the challenges she has faced to get to where she is today, I can manage to run 13 miles, so....

 

Mile 1 - is for the way Jo taught herself to lip-read before the age of 3.

Mile 2 - is for all the times Jo slept on my parents bedroom floor because she was scared of the dark but didn't want to wake them up.

Mile 3 - is for perfecting the art of smiling without letting her hearing aids whistle.

Mile 4 - is for the way Jo has learnt to speak at just the right volume 90% of the time (I'm not sure if you've ever tried to speak while wearing headphones and unable to hear yourself but it's not an easy thing to get right!)

Mile 5 - is for passing grade one clarinet despite not being able to hear the instrument she was playing.

Mile 6 - is for passing 4 A-levels and heading off to university despite having time off in her final year of sixth form college to have a cochlear implant fitted.

Mile 7 - is for the 2.1 Honours Degree.

Miles 8, 9 and 10 - are for all of the times that people have said 'nothing, it doesn't matter' when Jo asked them to repeat what they said. 

Mile 11 - is for the time Jo uttered the words 'we're lucky nothing bad's ever happened to our family aren't we?'

Mile 12 - is for the time an ignorant woman kicked off in Sainsburys when Jo showed her to the shower cream having misheard the words 'sour cream'.

Mile 13 - is for Jo's 30 years of unrelenting positivity and total absence of self-pity.

 

Anything you can donate will make a difference, thank you!

 

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