Friday, October 26, 2012

It's Official!!!!!

I thought I had a few more days. I thought that my crazy idea was just that...an idea, but it's not just an idea anymore.
Nope.
I have just received my first donation. This first donation makes it so much more real. It means that I really have to do this, and do you know what? I am so excited about it. A little scared too, but definitely excited.
I think I'm justified in my little bit of terror though. You would be too if you had signed yourself up to run from Edinburgh to London in just over a year's time.
Yep. That's right.
Over 600 miles of running and all in the name of raising funds for Guide Dogs and also to raise some much needed awareness of the great need for accessibility to fitness/leisure activities for disabled people. (That was a lot of needs).
I'm not sure what the stats are in the UK, but over 80 percent of (just) blind/visually impaired people in Canada are obese. Not to mention, if you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you will be familiar with the difficulties of accessing sports and leisure activities as a disabled person.
The guide dog affiliation is probably quite self explanatory, but the short of it is that raising and training a guide dog is an incredibly expensive endeavor. The wait lists for guides are quite long due partially to this cost. As someone who has worked with a guide dog for ten years and is currently waiting for my third working partner, I am acutely aware of the benefits of these working relationships. I'd like to bring awareness to this organisation as well as raise some needed funds.
What better way to accomplish both of these goals than to run some crazy long distance as a blind person?
There are so many things that need to be organised before I can conquer this challenge. It is going to take a lot of support from family, friends and the general public. For example, I'm going to need guide runners to train with and to run different parts of the run with me; I need to map out a route; figure out accommodation along the way; organise fundraising events; recruit support vehicles  for the event. Oh, and train for approximately 21 days of extremely long distance  running. So much to do!
Baby steps though, right?
The most important part is that it is now official: this challenge of running from Edinburgh to London and hopefully raising 5,000.00 pounds (or more) for Guide Dogs is under way.

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