Extreme Knitting Redhead: A shiny new pb

Thursday, April 5, 2012

A shiny new pb - no fooling!

If I'd posted this on All Fools' Day you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was a joke!

My training for my 2012 challenge has been tough, especially the speedwork side, and I was bitterly disappointed that I didn't do as well as I'd expected at the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 a few weeks ago. However, on 1st April I ran the Paddock Wood 1/2 marathon, smashing the pb of 2:06:39 that I set there back in 2005 to finish in 2:00:59.

I had a big smile on my face for the whole day and we went out for a lovely meal in the evening to celebrate. It's really given me a boost and I just hope I can use this success to spur me on to a faster time at VLM in just under 3 weeks.

2 comments:

Shan said...: Hooray! Good for Susie!!
[applause]

I admire you SO much...I ran a cross-country race when I was 9 years old and that was the last time I've attempted anything over a few K!; April 5, 2012 at 11:36:00 PM PDT
Linda said...: Congratulations. All that hard work has paid off! You are an inspiration.; April 9, 2012 at 5:19:00 PM 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.