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Abigail's first marathon

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Category: Fundraising

Published on Friday, 18 September 2015 15:17

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Abigail Papuga is running the Bournemouth Marathon on the 4^th October. Read the inspiring story:

Abigail: ‘’In April I started running outside, not something I had done since school.  Running was a new experience and off I went running in the local woods around where I lived.  Naively, about 4 weeks into running I felt I needed to ‘book a race’ to make sure I kept momentum.  I dismissed the 5k’s – seemed too easy (!) and took on the gigantic task of a ‘half marathon’.  I was curious enough to book this straight away but sensible enough to give myself 5 months to train.  So google gave me my training plan, alcohol was banned and my life was taken over by running.  And I did it! October 4^th 2014 I ran my 1st competitive race and completed the half marathon in 2hrs 32mins.  I was delighted!

 ...and I vowed never to run again!

   Until now…

Sure if you’ve done a half marathon you can run a full one! SURE!!!! Exactly a year on 4th October 2015 I will be running a full marathon in Bournemouth. But this time it's for charity...

Looking up the definition of Fibromyalgia doesn’t really do the illness justice…it’s an incredibly harsh debilitating life changing condition that I would never wish on my worst enemy. 

My mum has lived with this condition for the last 10 years and it's her life, it defines her mood, her actions (or lack of), her thoughts, her entire life.  You can’t ease the symptoms, they just get worse.

 I live 230 miles away from my mum due to work so I can't help her day-to-day. I only see snippets of the illness and I don’t see her struggle on a daily basis.  It’s just her, her two dogs and Fibromyalgia.

So that's why I'm running - it's the only way I can see to help make a difference.  My motto is “I’ll never be in as much pain as my mum”.  I’ll have to keep reminding myself of that when my knees think they can no longer take it. 

...That's why I'm hoping to raise as much money as I can for such an important charity in my life’’.

Donate to Abigail’s JustGiving Page https://www.justgiving.com/abigailpapuga/