We are delighted to share that Vanessa & Justin (who took part in a home-brewed marathon fundraising for us alongside their friend Barry) are once again choosing to undertake some fundraising activities on behalf of Mid Kent Mind.
WE DID IT! 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻💪🏼🍾🥂
We did it in 5:59:17 – 12 minutes quicker than last year! 🥳
So so proud of our fantastic achievement 🏅🏅
The City of Brighton truly put on a brilliant marathon weekend – the crowds were phenomenal 👏🏼🙌🏼
We hope we did Mid Kent Mind proud – so chuffed at the money raised 😀
Good Morning – A final update!
Vanessa here;
I was pondering for a while with what to put in this final update & I came to the conclusion that honesty is the best policy, so here goes…I am bricking it!
Last year I was injured & I missed out on 6 weeks of training before marathon day, this year it’s like history repeating itself! I wouldn’t say I’m “injured” as such, but the distances towards the end of the training plan prior to tapering are so great that this poor body of mine just isn’t cut out for it. For the past 3 weeks I’ve had terrible right leg/foot pain which resulted in last Sunday 27th March/day 105 of 119, I had to throw the towel in mid-run & make the decision to not run between then & marathon day. I cried tears of utter frustration & disappointment that I could go no further. Last Wednesday I hobbled to my sports massage appointment & explained the pain I’ve been experiencing & the conclusion is that it’s my sciatic nerve causing me all this grief. I had a full 45 minute massage session working on releasing it (with bruises to prove!) & fingers crossed, since then I’m not in the pain I was in before.
I’m doing all I can to relieve the discomfort in the hope that come Sunday morning when I’m in my Brighton hotel room putting my running gear on, I can let the nerves/excitement/adrenaline of the day take over & forget (or ignore!) any possible discomfort.
I honestly don’t know how I’m going to feel setting off from the start line, I almost can’t think about, but what I do know is that with Justin by my side along with the support from our other halves (aka the marathon training widows!), the support from all of you since we started this on the 13th December & the support from spectators as we go round the course is what will get us through.
Thank you, your love & support has been fantastic 🙏🏽
And from Justin;
T-minus less than 1 week to go before 26.2 mile blast off. Blasting off could be over stating our start line acceleration a little. I have been told to start slow and get slower as one of many top marathon tips!
Of course I am nervous but I am also joyous and grateful. My body has got me to the start line with hundreds of training miles done. The 26.2 miles is the celebration of our training and it is an experience to be relished.
I still pinch myself that I have the audacity to be lining up on a start line to run a marathon of all things. I am so proud of us both.
I only have two minor concerns of either having a Paula Radcliffe moment or getting stone in shoe at the start….but both just need a pit stop to solve. I don’t have any concerns that we will not finish – we are keeping the sponsorship money!
Thanks to everyone who has given love, kind words and hard cash 🙏🏽
Link to our Just Giving Page is as follows – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vhg-jjg-bjw – we know times are tough & there are so many charities out there needing help so any donations are gratefully received, thank you for taking the time to read this email 💙
Update: March 2022
Hello from Cape Verde!
Vanessa here, on a nice relaxing beach holiday – yet still doing the marathon training! 🏃🏻♀️️
Justin & I, asides from a couple of days over the festive season & a bonus rest day before our ½ marathon, have seen each other every…..single…..day! It’s weird to not be running with him this week but I’m not going to lie, it is so lovely heading out first thing in the morning (20° mind you 😉) then back for a nice breakfast, then legs well & truly resting round the pool all day! 🌞
Enough of making you all envious & on to the bit that will make you so not envious! The training over the past couple of weeks has really ramped up on the mileage, this Sunday is 18-20 miles target distance & next Sunday is 20-22 miles target distance 😕 Naturally there are aches & pains that crop up as to be expected but we’ve bulk booked sports massages for the next 3 Wednesday’s + one for the Wednesday after the marathon as a “well done legs” which I’m sure they will appreciate! 🦵🏼🦵🏼
Anyway….this time next month marathon day will be here – eek! We will be together & we will stick together for those gruelling 26.2 miles. No one has ever said it will be easy so we are just going to go out there and try our best but we are determined to get it done. 💪🏽
Thank you for taking the time to read this email 💙
Link to our Just Giving Page is as follows if you wanted to donate – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vhg-jjg-bjw – any donations are gratefully received 🙏🏽
Kind regards
Vanessa by the pool & Justin back in the office holding the fort 😉 xx
UPDATE: Deal 1/2 Marathon
Deal ½ Marathon….complete! 🏁
VERY challenging conditions on a VERY challenging route but WE DID IT! 💪🏽
The gentleman who came first did it in an hour & 14mins which is about 7 mins slower than previous races which shows how tough it was! 😱
Both doing ok this morning, few aches as expected but onwards we go with today being a rest day then back out there tomorrow onwards with our Sunday runs increasing week by week 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♂️
7 weeks yesterday until marathon day, eek! 🙈
Link to our Just Giving Page is as follows if you wanted to donate – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vhg-jjg-bjw – any donations are gratefully received 🙏🏽
UPDATE: February 2022
The months seem to go even quicker when you’re counting down towards something!
Sadly no Barry joining us for the marathon but he’ll be with us in spirit! 😊
We’ve covered over 150 miles now – it’s amazing how quick the mileage creeps up! We’ve even managed to get a couple of 5k PB’s under our belt this past month which is a nice surprise! 💪🏽
Pic attached is from yesterday; we did the Crab & Winkle Way from Canterbury to Whitstable + some mileage along the coastline. 2 hour run/distance goal 10-12 miles, we did 10.78 miles, well chuffed at that! 😃
This Sunday 20th February we’re doing the Deal ½ marathon as the plan is a 2 ½ hour run/distance goal 12-14 miles – wish us luck! 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♂
UPDATE: January 2022
Happy New Year to anyone we’ve not been in touch with yet! 🍾🥂
Wow, that first month has flown by! We’ve stuck to the plan which even included training on Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Day, go us! 💪🏽
This first month has covered approximately 70 miles of a mixture of walking & running, given us various tips on good sleeping & has even got us trying out cold showers in the mornings – eek! 🚿🥶
Still just us (V&J) committed to the marathon, although Barry has joined us on a couple of training sessions which is nice 🏃🏻♂️🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♂️ Hopefully by this time next month we’ll know for definite what he’s up to 🤞🏽
Update: December 2021
This is the training plan we are following. It’s laid out like a journal where we fill sections in each day.
So today is day 1 of 119 and believe it or not, we rest! A good day to focus on what is ahead of us 💪🏽
After raising over £6,700 in their previous fundraising adventure, the duo have now decided that they would like to tackle the Brighton Marathon on Sunday the 10th of April 2022 – the original event which they were going to tackle before the UK entered lockdown. The duo are currently following a 17 week plan to get them ready for their fundraising journey – and they will be sharing fundraising updates on their brand new page, which can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vhg-jjg-bjw.
Barry may also return to join the duo for their fundraising journey at a later date – meaning we may eventually get to see our ‘Three Musketeers’ back up to full strength as they continue their fundraising journey together. We wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you to get involved, to follow their fundraiser, and to share words of support with them. Undertaking such a huge fundraising challenge isn’t easy – and we really appreciate their decision to do this for us.
Stay tuned to this page for more updates on their fundraising as and when it is underway. For now, we want to say a huge thank you to Vanessa and Justin for once again pushing themselves to their limits for us – we can’t wait to see how people come together to support this fundraiser!
