Extreme Knitting Redhead: Marathon musings & Sky 20

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Marathon musings & Sky 20

It was a rather dramatic sky last night. No glowing colours, just shades of grey.

I've been thinking about my previous marathons and what I should do next year. My first marathon was Loch Ness in October 2004 and that was such an emotional journey but it showed me that I had hidden strength, both physical and mental. I didn't write a blog then which is a shame as it was one heck of an experience. I looked back through some of my running photos and found London marathon 2010 whilst crocheting.

There have been so many different marathons - this year there's been London whilst knitting, Brighton and Salzburg. All quite different.

There was the Steyning Stinger. A tough off-roader with mud, gale-force winds and rain!

Then there was the Kent 50 miler. Did I really run 50 miles? Sometimes I can't believe it! I've run marathons on consecutive weekends, I completed 7 marathons in my 50th year, I've run 2 ultras of 35 miles and 52.4 miles, I've run 3 marathons whilst knitting and 1 whilst crocheting, and this year I'm running 4 marathons for my 54th year and trying to beat my marathon pb of 4:50 which I set at the London marathon in 2006. So what the heck do I do next? People have asked me why I still campaign for Alzheimer's Research after all these years. I know it may seem obsessive and I have already been made a Champion of the Alzheimer's Research Trust so could perhaps be forgiven for resting on my laurels. But the thing is, research is still vastly under-funded and although I know I've helped to raise awareness about the disease (when I first started out on this journey, no-one talked about dementia, except in hushed tones!) I still feel there is still more I must do. I think I need a cunning plan, in the words of Baldrick!

2 comments:

Linda said...: You truly are amazing. All your hard work has put Alzheimer's and dementia in the public eye and raised a lot of money. Great work. I can't wait to see what your next challenge will be.; September 9, 2011 at 6:22:00 PM PDT
Susie Hewer said...: Awwh, thanks Linda. You're too kind.; September 10, 2011 at 12:00:00 AM PDT

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.