Charity, 2009

I wasn’t going to do any charity stuff for a while, preferring (perhaps slightly selfishly) to just enjoy getting back into running after losing a lot of fitness last year (I don’t know if my small operation at the end of ’07 had an effect, but for the first half of ’08 I didn’t manage to run more than 6 miles at a stretch).


At the start of the summer holiday last year I began to build up the miles until I was back to marathon fitness by October, then with the encouragement of folk on the brilliant FetchEveryone website, I continued to extend my training ready for my first ultra.


But I got a phone call in January from Richard at Animal Aid (a charity that promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle, an appropriate cause for a vegan!). The club secretary of Vegan Runners UK (my running club) had been asked if he knew anyone who’d be up for getting sponsored to do some extreme activities and he suggested that I had a few marathons lined up so maybe I could help.


It turned out that my plans included 10 Marathons in the first 5 months of the year, finishing with the Edinburgh Marathon May 31st. To make it more challenging and sponsor-worthy, I would include at least a couple of ultras. (It may even end up being a dozen races in total, but after the cancellation of Luton Marathon last year, I don’t like to count my Marathons until they’ve hatched!)


Hence I’m featured on the Animal Aid website, under the heading “10 Marathons!” and the sponsor form was sent out with their magazine to all the members of Animal Aid.