I was back up in the beautiful Scottish Highlands last weekend for my sister-in-law's big birthday bash and, oh boy, it was some party!!! Those of you who know my family will be well aware that a Benge "do" is always large and loud! Family members had travelled from all over England to celebrate this amazing woman's 70th birthday and it was a night filled with emotion, laughter, song and lots and lots of wine. Of course the ever present Kando was at my side throughout the event and, as always, enthusiastically threw herself into the proceedings. Who knew that meerkat's could party so hard? She even got up and joined Alfie on stage! The paparazzi just couldn't get enough of her!! I received some lovely comments on mine and Kando's challenges and lots of people asked why we weren't doing the Maggie's Run the Runway at Inverness Airport the following night. We had made the difficult decision not to add the Runway Run to our list of challenges as we have another one to complete in just 3 weeks' time and we all know what happened the last time I tried to do too many challenges too close together! My Sports Therapist had warned me against over-committing myself again. However, neither of us had allowed for the "wine factor" and the fact that Lizzie was doing the challenge and neither Kando nor myself could pass up the opportunity of doing a challenge with Lizzie so.......................we added a cheeky little 4th challenge into the mix and stepped away from the wine - or at least one of us did! We headed out to Inverness Airport at 9.30pm the following night together with a faithful crew of supporters made up of Lynn Benge, Shaz Riley, Janice Butterfield and Chris Butterfield who did a fantastic job of cheering us on. Sue Riley was running the event too and she set off in the first wave with the real runners and got a personal best for her run! It astonishes me how runners like Sue make it look so effortless and elegant; whilst Kando and I puff away at the back of the pack sweating buckets. I think it may have something to do with fitness levels......................
It was surprisingly dark out on the runway, despite the landing lights being on and all the runners being decked out in glow sticks. The night was very humid and warm which kept steaming my glasses up so I took them off and just kept heading towards the blur of flashing lights in the distance. Luckily marshals were stationed along the course to keep us all on track. I managed to grow myself a nice big blister on the ball of my foot at around mile 2 so the final mile was a bit of a hobble. We knew when we were approaching the terminal building and nearing the end of the run as we could hear the shouts of encouragement from the crowd (especially you Shaz Riley). It really does make a huge difference when people are shouting for you and it really spurs you on to the finish - well that and the bacon butty that was waiting for us! It was certainly a challenge to remember and it was great to be taking part with friends and family. Now I have 3 weeks until the night swim so Kando and I are hitting the pool once again. Mermaids (and merkats) will be hitting Salford Quays on 16 September so wish us luck for our penultimate challenge!
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It's been a busy old time since my last blog update. I have felt truly humbled and blessed by the support I've been shown recently and I struggle to express how incredible it's been. My business partner suggested we might have an open day at the Therapy Centre to help me meet my target of raising £2017 this year for Maggie's Centres. What started out as a great idea with a target to raise £300 soon snowballed into a fabulous event! We started by asking the therapists who work for us if they would be willing to donate 4 hours of their time so that we could offer treatments in return for a "pay-what-you-can-afford" donation to Maggie's. Every single one gave a resounding "YES" as soon as they were asked. What fabulously generous people they are!! Then we thought - why not have a raffle too - we could ask local businesses if they would be willing to donate a prize. Not only was everybody who we approached willing to give us prize; once again the generosity was unbelievable! We had theater tickets, sports equipment, massage treatments, champagne, wine, football memorabilia, a break in the Scottish Highlands, dog walking, cupcakes, the list ended at around 34 prizes and each one was incredible. Then our fabulous receptionists dedicated themselves to selling the raffle tickets and there was no stopping them! The Open Day itself was very well attended and the donations made were extremely generous. Our grand total for the event was £1100!!! We were all totally blown away with the support and generosity of everybody involved. After all the work of the Open Day I was certainly glad to get away on holiday to my beloved Scotland for a week. We packed our essentials - wetsuits, bikes and Kando - and headed off for a week of training on the hills and in the lochs. My trusty bike, Bolt, helped me to power up a lot of hills that week and we conquered quite few that had previously defeated me. For years I have been eyeing up the mountain road with a desire to try it but a certain knowledge that it was beyond my capabilities. No more!! Whilst I can't say that I sailed up it with any speed (it was more of a red faced puffing with frequent stops for oxygen) I did make it up to the snow gates and it was worth the effort for the feeling of triumph I experienced. Of course being a big lass makes getting up the hills harder but gives me the advantage of going faster back down the hill, I whooped and screamed all the way down!! I had some very good training swims in Loch Morlich during the week and was accompanied by the every-faithful Kando - although she did take on board quite a bit of water! I have since been back in the pool training for my next challenge which is a night swim in Salford Quays. I am looking forward to this challenge as I have never swam at night and I imagine that being in the dock looking up at the Quays' skyline with all the buildings lit up will be an amazing site. Kando and I will be wearing glow sticks and using an "action cam" so hopefully we can share the experience with you all!! I was lucky enough to visit Maggie's Highlands Centre in Inverness when I was on holiday and I was made so welcome by the staff and users of the Centre. It is a beautiful building with the most restful atmosphere, full of laughter and positivity. Everybody encouraged me to ask whatever questions I had about cancer and their treatments and not to feel afraid of saying the wrong thing. Maggie's Centres are such an important resource for their users. Things are going great on the sponsorship front. Sponsorship from the polar swim, 100k bike ride, Color run, raffle and open day is totalling £1900 so far! My beautiful, generous sister-in-law Lynn Benge is celebrating her 70th birthday in August and has asked everybody to donate to my Just Giving page rather than buy her gifts, plus I still have one more challenge to complete in December so I am very hopeful that we will hit the target of £2017. If you would like to help me to help Maggie's you can make a donation on my Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gill-thomas2017 |
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