That's a good question, how did I get into running? Well, my husband thought what a great idea it would be to set me a new years resolution to start running (yea great, thanks!). I had no excuses to not run, so I took him up on it. I booked myself on a 5mile race to give me something to work towards. I hadn't run for 20years and the only exercise that I did, was the running around as a mum kind and walking my Springer Spaniel every day. Other than that, some might say Im a couch potato!!!! I was so proud of myself and I went from running 0miles to 5miles in 8 weeks, I completed the 5 mile race and I won a spot prize!!!! How did I win a spot prize, I came last!!!! Haha you might say, but I say I did it, I didn't walk, I didn't give up, I did it!!! I felt such a sense of achievement. Unfortunately, I was a bit silly because I did too much, too soon and I had very painful shin splints; I could't run for months afterwards. It is probably at this stage that people would give up running, I understand why some would give up because everytime I tried to walk a step, it hurt. But I took some good advice and completely stopped trying to run. Once I felt pain free I tried again, but not too far. My problem is that when I put effort into trying to run further, my shins really do get sore but I really want to run, I enjoy it, especially out in the countryside when it's just me and my dog, running, blowing those cobwebs away. I don't want to give up, I want to give it a real go. So as I turned 40 this year, one of my 'things to do before I die' is to run a marathon and I thought, well there's no time like the present, so I am running the Brighton marathon 2012, and what gives me the strength to go ahead and do this is the fact that I am running for http://www.thematthewrussofoundation.org.uk/
Why have I chosen this charity? Matthew Russo had Autism and his mum is a friend of the family. When my own son was thought to have Autism, I was living in Cyprus, I had no support, apart from his lovely speech therapist. I did however have Facebook, where I became friends with Matthews mum, I wrote to her for advice, experience, tips etc, His mum always wrote back to me, she always responded, she always gave me an in depth answer. She would ask me about my son and has shown a continued interest in my own sons progress even though he does not have Autism. It was an extremely sad time when her son Matthew went to school one day and never came back home :( he choked on his lunch at school and never recovered, he spent his 7th birthday in hospital and died not so long after that. This story is just so tragic and so very sad for everyone who hears this story. I want to return Matthews mums help that she gave to me back then when I needed it, so I want to run the Marathon to help raise money for the charity that his parents have set up. I have also become a committee member of The Matthew Russo Foundation, where I hope I can return the kindness that his mum gave to me. I am not a good runner, I am not an experienced runner nor do I pretend to be. I want to run a marathon, it is going to be very difficult but with the thoughts of Matthew daily, it will get me to the finishing line!!!! God bless little Matthew and his family XXX