Extreme Knitting Redhead: Last race of the year

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Last race of the year

It was the Xmas Pudding Dash today which was postponed due to bad weather a couple of weeks ago.

I was originally going to combine two of the outfits I had worn for previous runnings of this race:

The Ms Santa outfit from 2007 & the festive elf from 2008.

Notice how Mr Finknottle (aka Pete) hadn't bothered to change his outfit from one year to the next!

In the end though I toned it right down to wearing my stripey elf tights and my Ms Santa hat.

There weren't many people there, probably because the new date didn't suit them but I managed to catch up with Johnny J who I haven't seen for ages.

He's very speedy but he waited around for me to finish and he ran a few yards up the last hill giving me tips on my breathing and when to accelerate towards the finish line.

The course was a bit shorter than the 5 miles it should have been because a section was too icy. Anyway, I managed a nice sprint at the end and completed it in 48 minutes which I was very pleased with as I've become very sluggish of late.

I absolutely adore the snowflake medal!

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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.