Extreme Knitting Redhead: The Dementia Revolution at the London marathon 2019

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Dementia Revolution at the London marathon 2019

Where on earth do I begin my write-up about this?

For the 14 years I've been supporting ARUK I've dreamt about dementia being the chosen charity at the London marathon so when they joined forces with the Alzheimer's Society to fund the Dementia Research Institute it really was a dream come true and what a dream-team the Dementia Revolution has been!

Having completed VLM 10 times before I decided that 2019, my 11th running of it, would be my last as a charity runner as there are so many people wanting to run it now and share their stories about the horrors of dementia. So my 11th running of VLM was also my 167th marathon for dementia research and I had planned to go for a pb which would have been sub 4:30. However, having 3 months out of action due to injury at the start of the year and recurring issues with plantar fasciitis did not bode well and I'd already settled for just getting round comfortably and would have been quite happy with anything under 6 hours!

I'd treated myself to some new purple and grey shorts and a new purple cap to which I just attached my 100 Marathon Club badge.

We had to make the painful decision for Mike not to come with me this time as Tilly the cat was quite unwell and we didn't want to leave her alone - if he'd come with me we'd both have been worried about her and if he stayed at home we knew he'd worry about me. I promised I'd be careful and so he stayed with her.

I arrived at Blackheath bright and early and promptly went to a cafe we've frequented on several occasions before heading off to Greenwich Park for a photo shoot with some fellow Dementia Revolution runners.

In this version I'm looking down whilst chatting with the ladies on either side of me (2nd row next to the lady with bare arms) but you get to see more people!

Whilst all this was going on Scott Harvey Mitchell was busy doing a brilliant PR job as usual whilst celebrating his birthday before actually running the marathon with fellow celebrities from Eastenders!

I knew it was going to be a very emotional day for so many reasons but I really struggled to keep it together when I saw the amazing support teams. OMG they were absolutely AWESOME! That sea of pale blue on each side of the road with odd pockets of people supporting their family and friends was amazing. Then all the runners too. Oh, it was just perfect.

However, my journey certainly didn't go to plan as my right knee started to play up at mile 16 and I had to walk from mile 19 onwards. I've never walked in the London marathon before and it was the most amazing experience because the crowd just carried me to the end, shouting out my name and encouraging me. I had a great big smile on my face and the commentators kept spotting me and calling me the lady with the biggest smile.

There were lots of people walking in the last few miles and as we were heading along the road towards Buckingham Palace I was walking next to a young girl who'd had problems with her ankle and declared it was her first and last marathon! I told her she needed to do a victory run/jog when we got to the Palace and for some unknown reason said I'd run with her to help keep her going (which was a rather silly thing to say as I was limping along at the time!).

So when we reached the 800m to go marker (photo taken by a friend before the race, hence no runners!) she said "let's run from here" my legs didn't really like that idea at all but obliged with a slow jog. As we progressed to about 200m to the finish line I told her we should do a victory sprint, 'cos I couldn't feel my legs by this stage anyway, so off I went but she didn't!

So although it ended up being my slowest ever road marathon (5:30:52) it was certainly one of the most enjoyable

Now to get my knee sorted out before my next big challenge..........

I must just mention my young chum James who ran his 300th marathon at London in a fantastic time of 03:14:18, to get himself a Guinness World Record for the youngest person to complete 300 marathons. Fabulous and well deserved young man!

Another fab story you may have read about in the newspapers or seen on the news was Lukas Bates, a fellow runner for the Dementia Revolution, who was trying to get a Guinness World Record wearing a costume of a famous landmark - Big Ben. Unfortunately the costume was too tall to get under the finish line gantry and there are some very funny video clips of it if you take a look at the link. But that's not the best bit - he went for a drink in a pub afterwards and left his costume outside which was then stolen by some fellow runners, as a result of which his £1000 fund-raising target has been well and truly smashed as people have been making donations which have now reached £5000!

Also, apparently there were more people finishing the London marathon then ever before; 42,549 to be precise which was 2,000 more than in 2018!

Now for the sad news

5 years ago we visited the Blue Cross Rescue Centre and our beautiful girl wrapped her tail around our hearts and chose us as her forever family. She was 7 years old and had not had a happy life up until then and we vowed to keep her safe and told her she'd be well loved.

Today our beloved Tilly was fading so quickly we knew she needed us to make that dreaded phone call and we headed off to see the vet. Although she had to leave us far too soon, she will never be forgotten.

We buried her in the orchard near Barney and Tinker.

Rest in peace beautiful girl.

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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.