Extreme Knitting Redhead: Media madness!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Media madness!

The run up to London (pun intended!) is always a mad mixture of interviews and photo shoots and I'm certainly not complaining because the more publicity we can get for Alzheimer's Research UK the better.

Yesterday was the main focus of attention as it was Press Day which always takes place in a hotel in London so I was up with the lark. Actually I was up before the larks because I had to do a quick interview with Heart fm at 6:30. It was a lot shorter than I'd anticipated and I didn't get chance to talk about ARUK 'cos they focused on the knitting as expected. Anyway, They've asked me to go on air again on Monday to let them know how I got on so that's good.

I very stupidly forgot to take my camera with me yesterday. Thankfully I remembered in time to stop and buy one of those throwaway jobbies but that means I'll have to get them printed and then scan them in. DOH!

These 2 photos have come off Facebook and show, from left to right, Uli (most Rubiks cubes solved whilst running a marathon), Andy (fastest marathon dressed as a fictional book character), Eleanor (fastest marathon dressed as a bride), me, Chris (fastest marathon dressed as a star) & Steve (most money raised in a single sporting event - watch the news tomorrow, it's awesome!) who is replaced by Tony (dressed as Tinkerbell, fastest marathon dribbling a football - he just likes to dress up and his wife and kids choose his costumes!).

In the meantime, here are a couple of links to get a feel for how the Press Conference went: Report on the Virgin London Marathon page and Ceebeebies

In the afternoon I nipped over to the Excel Centre to collect my running number etc and then I came back and had a lovely hour sitting in the hotel lobby knitting and people watching.

The evening was taken up with loads of Guinness World Record wannabes appearing on The One Show. 4 of us from the photo shoot were on the list to do in-depth interviews but sadly that all went to pot. There were still plenty of moments of all of us appearing in shot so at least everyone got to see my ARUK vest then I was spoken to in passing right at the end but although they mentioned ARUK there was no mention of what we were all there for which was to try for our own GWRs.

If you check out the show on iplayer, I'm sitting next to Tony (Tinkerbelle), the Eleanor (the bride) and Andy (Mr Happy) appears behind us at some point. He actually managed to get an interview which was great because he's doing amazing work for Children with Leukaemia.

Full report to follow...........

3 comments:

Unknown said...: wow, I'd never heard of anyone knitting and running a maraton but it seems you're quite a pro! Good luck today and what an amazing idea - i'll be sure to be checking your blog to see the results!; April 16, 2011 at 11:24:00 PM PDT
PixieMum said...: Congratulations on your marathon.

My daughter, Martha, was running near you today between the 22 and 23 mark.

Her charity was Pancreatic cancer in memory of her friend who died from this disease aged just 27.

It was her first full marathon, we are delighted she was still chirpy after, although now a little sunburnt and with achy feet.

Am so impressed with all the charity runners, hope you raised lots of dosh.; April 17, 2011 at 1:21:00 PM PDT
Susie Hewer said...: Thanks Chloe. I'll be writing my report over the next few days - there's loads to tell!

PixieMum, well done to your daughter for completing her first marathon. VLM is my favourite road marathon because the atmosphere is really special.; April 18, 2011 at 7:16:00 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.