Intrepid Hope for Tomorrow supporter
Carly Barnes is the brains behind this amazing virtual marathon event which is
the perfect antidote to over indulgence at Christmas! In her own words Carly explains the
thinking behind it:
If you’ve
ever watched the London Marathon on the TV and dreamily said to yourself “I
wish I could run a marathon” and then never done anything about it, then the
Twelve Day Marathon might just be the motivation you need.
The idea is
that over the course of the twelve days of Christmas (25th December
2019 – 5th January 2020), you complete 26.2 miles however you want.
Walk, jog or run. In one go, or in smaller chunks. Inside on a treadmill, or outside on the road
or trails. One friend, who is not a runner, is going to do it when she hits the
shops for the January sales, she told me she’d even walk into town rather than
drive. Some who
take part will be seasoned runners and may want to use it as part of a training
block for another event, or to see if they can smash a few PB’s. Others may be
venturing out for the very first time and discovering what they are capable of.
Either way, everyone will be taking part in a marathon event, and will all be
part of the Twelve Day community. There is an Instagram page, a Facebook event
and a strava board and by using the #twelvedaymarathon we can all cheer each
other on – from where ever we are in the world.
On the 5th
January you tell me you’ve completed the challenge via the email on the website
and I’ll post out your shiny marathon medal. Apart from covering the cost of the
medals and postage all the money raised will go to charity.
The reason I’m organising this event
Next year, I
will be running the London Marathon for two incredible charities. Family Action
who work to
tackle some of the most complex and difficult issues that families in our
communities are facing – including financial hardship, mental health problems,
social isolation, learning disabilities, domestic abuse, or substance misuse
and alcohol problems. Family
Action work hard to ensure that families facing these difficulties have the
support they need to become stronger, happier and healthier. As a mum myself it
breaks my heart that not all kids get the same start in life so I hope my
efforts will help a little.
I am also going to be raising funds for a charity very close to my heart, Hope for Tomorrow. This incredible charity have helped my father in law with his ongoing fight with incurable cancer. Hope for Tomorrow allow patients to save time by having their cancer care closer to home, via one of their mobile chemo units, saving them time and energy to be with the people that mean the most. I ran Race To The Tower (a double trail marathon) for these guys earlier this year and they will ALWAYS hold a special place for me.
With big
events like the London Marathon runners find they get donner fatigue, and
asking friends and family for money can sometimes be a little awkward. So I
wanted to do something a little bit different and remembered my pal Livvy Hill
(AKA @thenutritiousrunner on Instgram) had organized a virtual marathon in
2017.
It was
during this event that I fell in love with the sport of running. I’d run on and
off for years but never really consistently – I always gave up as I had no goal
and was on my own. This event gave me a reason to run and through it I met so
many like minded people just starting out on their running journey. I was
hooked and since running those first few miles I’ve gone onto running my first
ultra-marathon this year (I still pinch myself).
I was
chatting to Livvy and asked her how she went about organizing her event, and
she said, “well why don’t you do the Twelve Day Marathon and I’ll give you all
the info you need to get started”. I had met Livvy through the little squares
of Instagram and I was blown away that she would do this for me.
So here I
am, having grabbed all the advice I can from Livvy, roped my poor husband in to building me a
website (I’m apparently his most picky client) to take Paypal payments for the
Twelve Day Marathon, and today I placed the order for 200 medals.
On day one,
just before going to bed I have 20 sign ups, including one from Australia – the
event is officially global. A target of 200 feels huge but I am really hoping I
can do it and will be boring everyone with it from now until the last medal is
posted.
I am a
massive fan of Mimi Anderson, a British female ultra-runner, and in her book,
she talks about signing up for the Marathon des Sables – an iconic 150-mile
multi-day self-sufficiency staged race in the Sahara. When she entered, the
furthest she had run was 13 miles. She completed it, and has since gone on to
run (and win) every extreme running event out there. Just before she goes into
the detail of the training for MDS, she says “How will I know unless I try”.
This has become a life moto for me with most things I do. Yes I am worried this
event might not won’t work out but unless I try I won’t know. So I’m 100%
taking this attitude with creating this event, and I hope others will be
inspired by that moto, sign up, see what they can achieve and help support two
incredible charities along the way.
If you like
the sound of the Twelve Day Marathon and want to do something for charity why
not book your space: