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It's been 4 years since the last time, but I've decided to take on the challenge of the Oxford Half Marathon once again (eeeek!). If you’re interested to watch, the race begins at 09:30 on Sunday 13th October. 

I will be running for the Children's Ambulatory Care which is part of the Oxford Hospitals Charity where my mum manages its 3 departments, supported by incredible staff teams. They are the Children's Day Care Ward and Children's Outpatients, both located in the Children's Hospital at the John Radcliffe and Children's Outpatients at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. 

It is the first time that most of the children they care for will have visited hospital and, depending on the reason for their visit, it may not be their last. The staff try to make the experience around treatment as fun and as stress-free as possible for the children and their families. They use their Charitable fund to help them to do this by spending the money on arts and craft materials, toys and specialist children-friendly equipment.

People often raise money for the Children's Hospital (quite rightly!!), but if you don't specify a ward or a particular gift that you are raising money for then the donations go into a big pot which often over-looks the above wards. I would LOVE to give my mum the opportunity to improve her wards, so PLEASE sponsor me. No donation is too small: if everyone I know donated just a pound then the combined effort would make a huge difference!

Sponsor a little, sponsor a lot, sponsor per mile, sponsor a few of your weekend drinks... However, whatever. All donations are greatly appreciated 😊

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Additionally, this year brought a new personal challenge: due to the torn ligament injury I sustained following a skiing accident a few years ago, I have cautiously avoided all strenuous activity and so I didn't know to what lengths my leg might allow me to go without doing damage once again. Back in January, when new years resolutions were ripe in my mind, I toyed with the idea of signing up to the Ox Half as a way to regain my fitness and to challenge my physical ability, but I wasn't convinced that I was being truly realistic with myself. 

THANKFULLY, after delaying training due to my own psychological barriers and feelings of trepidation, I spontaneously ran the Oxford Town & Gown in May - deciding only the night before - and it went well! I had only done a little bit of training at that point, but I can now say that since then I have put a lot of effort in and am happy to be active and achieving again! 

I've had in the back of my mind how lucky I am to have fully healed as my physiotherapist had informed me that I may not regain a full range of movement in my leg. She also said that those who had previously torn a ligament are susceptible to re-tearing it if too much exertion is applied too soon. This freaked me out a little bit and put me off doing anything more than cycling until this year.

While I was in recovery, I remember the feeling of physical and mental helplessness and how I longed to do basic things like going for a walk, being out on my bike, swimming and even how much I wanted to go back to work! I didn't really like running much before, but now, when I'm actually out there - especially when it gets hard - I just remember that intense longing to be able-bodied again and to be able to actually use it to it's full capacity.

I can happily tell you that training has been going well considering all the possibilities of what could have gone wrong regarding my leg. A huge relief. I don't expect it to hold me back on race day!

Finally, a big shout out to my water girl, Ab, who has accompanied me on her bike for many of my training runs! 🚲💦

Ok, obligatory sob story complete - now please hit the donate button..... Go, go, go! 🙏 (And THANK YOU! X)

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