Extreme Knitting Redhead: Nearly there!

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Nearly there!

I'm now just a few days away from my 200th marathon if everything goes to plan this week. I really can't believe it actually as it hasn't sunk in properly yet.

I sent my spreadsheet off to the 100 Marathon club to be checked and got the OK so it's all systems go for the weekend when I hope to end with a double on Saturday & Sunday. Eeek!

In the meantime there's been lots going on.

Last weekend I headed off to Bewl for marathon 198. Although it's close to home it isn't a favourite as I have faceplanted there before (lots of tree roots in dappled light is not good for me as my eyesight is not good in those conditions)!

As it turned out I had a lovely time because when we set off at the start I was chatting with a young girl who was doing her first marathon and I advised her not to get carried away with the crowd and to run at her own pace. She sped off up the hill and a someone running nearby said "I recognise that voice, although I haven't heard it for nearly 7 years!"

I looked round to see Claire who I last ran with in Dymchurch when she was trying to reach her 40th marathon by the time she was 40 and it was my 40th marathon too. After that she stopped doing long distances as she was trying to get pregnant which she did eventually and she had a lovely little boy named Emrys who I hadn't met until that day.

No photos I'm afraid 'cos I didn't take my camera for fear of damaging it in a fall but you can get a feel for the grounds here. It was a jolly hot day and we were glad to be running in the shade of the woods for about 2/3 of the route. I must take a photo of the medal as it's actually a useful one because it can be used as a bottle-opener! Now for 199 & 200.........

Our usual horsey visitors arrived a couple of weeks ago and have moved into the field nearest the house now the foals have stopped calling for their mummies:

It's lovely to look out of the window and see them as I still miss my old ladies. Heather, who breeds them, has offered me one of her unproductive mares who has been failing to produce foals but that would mean I'd have to get another horse as a companion and I don't want all the hassle, let alone the expense, any more as our lanes are too busy to enjoy hacking out these days.

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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.