Extreme Knitting Redhead: Result

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Result - 6:00:24!

Here's a link to the marathon results where I was surprised to see that only 2 more people came in after me. As there were originally 12 people behind me that's a lot of people dropping out which shows how bad the conditions were.

The lady who came in last was doing her 209th marathon. What a star - makes my tally of 20 look a bit lame!

Today the only pain I have is from my fall and I'm very impressed that my legs and neck feel absolutely fine. My hands are still sore and the wounds are a bit weepy (too much info?), the bruises on my arm and leg are turning a lovely shade of mauve and my ribs and tummy hurt whenever I laugh.

I'm giving my body a few days rest from running to recover but I'll do plenty of walking to help speed up my recovery. I think I need a trip to Mary Massage Lady too.

Many thanks to everyone who reads my ramblings. I love it when people leave comments and it's wonderful to meet some fellow runners and knitters in races.

I think I need to try some more knitting now my neck has improved too so I'm looking at my stash to see what to start next.

1 comment:

crgilvr said...: Saw you in Runner's World this month (US). Great job!; May 4, 2010 at 9:48:00 AM PDT

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.