AbOUT.Chloe is a mum & an engineer. She initially started getting fit in order to be a better parent, so now she's also a runner. She was already an active engineering, education & equality supporter, so she's combined the two in a unique challenge - running 1000 miles in a year to raise money for Global Action Nepal. She's starting off with a marathon in Nepal!
Global Action Nepal are a charity which is developing the education system in Nepal, with a commitment to gender equality. They are doing this through building schools, especially in disaster wrought areas after the recent earthquakes, and also through training teachers, educating communities, providing child friendly classrooms & resources & much more! |
ABOUT CHLOE |
I'm Chloe. I'm a Mum of a 3 year old. I'm an engineer. And apparently I'm a runner. I wasn't always though:
In January 2016 I couldn't even run 50 metres. I knew I wasn't fit, and knew I wasn't really a runner, but it really struck home when I couldn't keep up with my then 2 year old daughter on her balance bike. What if she was out of control & in trouble on it? I couldn't keep up with her I couldn't help. I felt like a failure of a parent & knew I had to do something. That was where all this began. A week later I was reading the Colmore Business District newsletter and there was an advert for a beginners running group who were going to do the Couch to 5k. Knowing I had to do something about my fitness or risk watching my daughter run or cycle off alone, I signed up. It was a big deal for me, I’m not at all fit. I’ve spent my entire life finding excuses not to run or exercise; even as early as primary school I would find ways of getting out of P.E. on cross country days! Never the less, on February 2nd 2016 I turned up at the Run Birmingham beginners session, and for twenty minutes we alternated between 60 seconds of slow jogging & 90 seconds of brisk walking. It was hard, but I’d started my journey. The journey has been tough, but since that first day I haven’t stopped, I have trained every week, usually 3 times a week. I’ve been to Parkrun, I've run late in the evenings with a head torch and a friend, I've slogged round the park alone before my daughter is awake, and even run on holidays whilst all my friends were relaxing. Now, I want to make that journey mean something to more than just me. I want to use my hard earned running powers for good, and do some charity fundraising. So now I have to stretch myself even further to make it worth your while sponsoring me. So, from not being able to run even 50m at the start of 2016, 9 months later I plan to embark on a mission to run 1000 miles. To kick it all of I ran the Nepal International Marathon, complete with 2000m of elevation gain throughout the 26.2 miles of trails! I can only hope the following 973.8 miles are easier than that epic adventure! |
RUN 1000 |
I am a firm believer that if you’re going to ask people to sponsor you, then you need to be doing something that won’t be easy. Something in which there may be points you want to give up, but the knowledge that the charity won’t get the sponsorship money if you don’t persevere keeps you going. For me, running 1000 miles in a year is certainly a challenge that lives up to that. At the time of setting myself this challenge (May 2016) I was running maybe 12 miles a week…but not every week, sometimes I gave myself a bit of a break. To run 1000 miles I will need to run more than 19 miles per week. However, what will be tough about this challenge won’t be the individual runs, but the relentlessness of it. I already need to notably up my weekly total, but on top of that I won’t be able to skip a few days, or I will get too far behind to be able to catch up the miles. This will not be easy.
That is why I am asking you to sponsor me, to help inspire me to keep on running, so I know every last painful step is helping to raise money for Global Action Nepal. It’s also why I’m welcoming people running with me, a little bit of company will help keep me going & keep me sane. I’m also welcoming suggestions of new places & routes to run, especially if they’re around Coventry, as variety will help keep the running interesting enough to rack up those miles. It’s also why I’m going to participate in various races throughout the year – partly to keep you supplied with evidence & silly photos, but also to keep things interesting for me. Wherever those races have an entry fee or a minimum fundraising amount though, this will be paid for by me, from my own pocket, so none of your sponsorship will go anywhere except straight to Global Action Nepal. The challenge's very first day was November 26th 2016...a strange day to start a year long challenge. I had originally planned to start the 1000 miles on January 1st 2017. However, I was incredibly fortunate and won a place on the Nepal Marathon [a marathon, what was I thinking?! I only started running 9 months before the day of the race!], and it seemed an opportunity too amazing to miss. As you can see though, going from zero to marathon in the space of 9 months is going to be an incredible challenge, as will continuing that running to achieve 1000 miles in a year, so your support really is appreciated. |