Marie Manning
Marie Manning's marathon mission 2017
Fundraising for Blind Veterans UK
Story
I was lucky enough to be given a ballot place for The London Marathon Sunday 23rd April 2017, as I do not have to raise money for a charity. I have decided to give a little something back to this charity to say a massive thank you for all the help they have given my Grandad Hywel Williams from Llanfairfechan, Wales.
In recent years, my Grandad has been suffering with an increasing loss of his eye sight which has had an upsetting effect on not just him, but all of the family. After suffering alone for some time, my Grandad was advised to contact the charity 'Blind Veterans UK' and I'm so pleased he did because the charity have been outstanding in giving him support and being there when he needs them. Through the support given, it has enabled Grandad's confidence to grow and deal with the loss of sight, and we believe it has given him a chance to keep leading a life in which he can cope with, whether it be the confidence to go out because he has aids to use, weekly audio news papers sent to him, or just having someone there to talk to, I am truly grateful for what this charity has done for my beloved Grandad, its given him a second chance at life.
As some of you may know, I have been increasingly enjoying running and getting fit to try and better my life. I have run many 5k and 10k races and 4 half marathons (13.1 miles) since March 2016, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be capable of running a full Marathon (26.2 miles), I entered the London marathon ballot along with my Husband (thinking I would not get in), so when I received the acceptance letter in October I cried, a mixture of joy for getting one of 50,000 places out of 250,000 entrants, but also fear for the daunting task ahead, especially as my Husband was not fortunate enough to gain a place......there was no turning back now. In the following weeks I received many phone calls asking me to run for certain charities, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do.....I wanted to try and raise as much money for The Blind Veterans UK charity as a way of saying thank you for looking after my Grandad, I wanted to run for a charity with was close to my heart....so here I am, asking you if you are able to, please donate what you can, not just to say thank you, but to encourage me to do my best and give 100% effort in my training for the next 5 months and hopefully complete the marathon in under 6 hours.
I have given up alcohol (which is a massive step for me!!), I have already lost over 2 stone as I joined Slimming world once I found out I was running the marathon and I hope to lose at least another 2 stones. I am committing all my spare time to training towards being the best I can for the marathon on Sunday 23rd April 2017.
I will update the page with training posts and videos to enable all who wants to follow my progress to do so....If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this, show your support and where possible, thank you for you donations, it means so much to me.
In recent years, my Grandad has been suffering with an increasing loss of his eye sight which has had an upsetting effect on not just him, but all of the family. After suffering alone for some time, my Grandad was advised to contact the charity 'Blind Veterans UK' and I'm so pleased he did because the charity have been outstanding in giving him support and being there when he needs them. Through the support given, it has enabled Grandad's confidence to grow and deal with the loss of sight, and we believe it has given him a chance to keep leading a life in which he can cope with, whether it be the confidence to go out because he has aids to use, weekly audio news papers sent to him, or just having someone there to talk to, I am truly grateful for what this charity has done for my beloved Grandad, its given him a second chance at life.
As some of you may know, I have been increasingly enjoying running and getting fit to try and better my life. I have run many 5k and 10k races and 4 half marathons (13.1 miles) since March 2016, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be capable of running a full Marathon (26.2 miles), I entered the London marathon ballot along with my Husband (thinking I would not get in), so when I received the acceptance letter in October I cried, a mixture of joy for getting one of 50,000 places out of 250,000 entrants, but also fear for the daunting task ahead, especially as my Husband was not fortunate enough to gain a place......there was no turning back now. In the following weeks I received many phone calls asking me to run for certain charities, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do.....I wanted to try and raise as much money for The Blind Veterans UK charity as a way of saying thank you for looking after my Grandad, I wanted to run for a charity with was close to my heart....so here I am, asking you if you are able to, please donate what you can, not just to say thank you, but to encourage me to do my best and give 100% effort in my training for the next 5 months and hopefully complete the marathon in under 6 hours.
I have given up alcohol (which is a massive step for me!!), I have already lost over 2 stone as I joined Slimming world once I found out I was running the marathon and I hope to lose at least another 2 stones. I am committing all my spare time to training towards being the best I can for the marathon on Sunday 23rd April 2017.
I will update the page with training posts and videos to enable all who wants to follow my progress to do so....If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this, show your support and where possible, thank you for you donations, it means so much to me.