“Rennie Grove Peace is a charity that has been close to my heart for a number of years. I first supported Peace Hospice Care after my father-in-law was cared for by the Hospice at Home team towards the end of his life in 2013. The care he received was so remarkable that I started to fundraise for the charity to make sure that other families could access the same level of care. Since then I’ve taken part in various fundraisers over the years.
“I also supported Peace Hospice Care by volunteering as a trustee for four years until 2021. This year I decided to take on a fundraising challenge so I started to think what I could do that would help me raise as much money as possible. I knew I wanted it to be a physical challenge and I’ve always enjoyed cycling and running so I decided to combine the two by committing to run or cycle every day in October.
“The challenge itself involved running at least a 5km or cycling at least 10 miles each day for the 31 days in October. From 1st October, I alternated between running and cycling – 16 runs, 15 bike rides. In total, I ran 55 miles and cycled 300 miles over this period
“Although I’ve always enjoyed running, I had been focusing more on cycling in recent years so knew that the combination of the two would really challenge me. I hadn’t run this year at all before I started training in September and I found the running really tough to get back into even though I am cycling fit. I think it would have been too easy to simply cycle every day and I knew that introducing the running and having to alternate each day would make it tough, mentally as well as physically.
“I really enjoyed the month but it certainly did challenge me! I found myself having to take each day very steadily, wary of using up too much energy. After about two weeks I did feel really tired and that continued right through to the finish. The weather was a real challenge and I caught a nasty bug near the end that threatened to derail me but I managed to keep going until the 31st!
“I’m so pleased to have been able to do this for Rennie Grove Peace. I’m a strong believer in trying to do something that makes a positive difference and when it comes to fundraising, I will always want to try and do something to help Rennie Grove Peace. I’m now starting to think about what I might do for Rennie Grove Peace in 2024!”
