As my old PE teacher Mr Dougan once said, "Alison isn't athletically talented, but at least she tries..."
And so here's comes my first half marathon!
On Sunday 14th April, I'll be running the X Bionic Lake Garda half marathon with 6 of my work colleagues, and I'll be fundraising for Golden Friendships.
The charity is based in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire and hosts daily activities for people with additional support needs and disabilities (like my sister Karen), the young and the elderly and those who experience loneliness and isolation. Too often these groups are forgotten or ignored, whether it's in services or social activities, but Golden Friendships gives them the opportunity to get out the house, try something new and interact with their friends and community. They run a variety of activities from fitness classes to crafts sessions, DJ nights to grand balls, and they have a well used karaoke machine! They own their own venue after a successful community fundraiser in 2019, where they also host Red Ramp Events, which are fully accessible entertainment nights designed especially for wheelchair users.
After years of cuts to disability services and a difficult period of isolation for these communities due to Covid 19, it's amazing that Golden Friendships can provide them space to have fun and be unapologetically themselves - in Karen's case, that's being let loose on the karaoke machine (see photo for her famous Stick It to The Man performance).
The charity operates through the help of its volunteers and donations, so anything you can give would be a big help in maintaining their venue and activities schedule. I'd encourage you to watch the documentary linked here to know more about how the charity has evolved over the last 5 years, and the lives it has changed: https://youtu.be/Mai1yz7QNPY
Personally this will be a big challenge for me after years of 5ks, so here's hoping I can make the full 21k, even if I'm crawling to the finish line!
