From Smoker to Tip-Top Athlete

Hi I’m Karen.

I am married with four children and have lived and worked in the Lancaster area all my life. In 2006, after 25 years, I finally saw the light and gave up smoking.

During the next 8 months I gained 2 ½ stone in weight. I thought I better do something about it so I started walking. After a while it was walking and jogging. Then finally jogging.

Nearly seven years later here I am running in the 2013 London Marathon to raise money for the Rossendale Trust. Please help me by clicking the link below.

http://www.donate-to-karen-jones-charity-london-marathon.org.uk/  

Reality Kicks In!!!!

Hi

I'm Jason, I'm an employee of the Trust and have been with them for 10 years, this will be my first marathon. I've been threatening to do this for quite a few years and have finally decided (with a little push from the PR and Admin team!!) to bite the bullet and go for it.

I have downloaded one of the training programmes from the marathon website and I'm now coming to the end of the fourth week. I have been a regular recreation runner for many years and also play alot of football so my general fitness levels are quite good....... or so i thought.

I really had no idea how all encompassing the training would be and the amount of commitment, time-wise that would be involved, It's a slow process of building up time on the road. Reality has certainly kicked in now and is really giving me the motivation to achieve what really is a great life goal and to do it for a charity that is at the centre of my life is truely wonderful as i get to see first hand the difference fund raising makes.

My Christmas list this year has a definitive new look to it, running gear and accessories galore!!!!

Hello from a runner! (Adam)

Hi everyone, I'm Adam - one of the new runners for The Rossendale Trust. I thought I'd take the plunge and blog about my first few proper training runs...

I'm in my first full week of training having hurriedly visited a physio a few weeks ago for an excruciating ITB problem. Fortunately the nice lady did some torturous things to me and prescribed a few very odd stretches that seem to have done the trick. That'll teach me for running the Windsor Half without adequately preparing!

2013 will be my first full marathon, I'm running another half (Wokingham) in February as a stepping stone. I'm apprehensive about London because I know the training is going to be long and hard (and cold!), but I am thoroughly chuffed that I'm able to run it for such a wonderful charity and I'm excited about getting to the finish line and having that massive sense of achievement. I've set myself the lofty (for me) target of trying to hit around 4 hours, but we'll see if that changes once I start getting in to the 20 mile + territory of my training runs!

If anyone lives in the London area and fancies a training run/competitive run together, do get in touch and we'll meet up.

Good luck everyone. I look forward to meeting you all on April 21st if not sooner.

Adam

adamwilliamatkins@hotmail.co.uk

About The Rossendale Trust

We are a Trust that provides supported living for adults with learning disabilities.  We have a offices and apartments in Sutton, Macclesfield, and other houses in Macclesfield, Buxton, and Chapel-en-le-Frith.

We were started by two families in the village of Sutton, in 1973, who saw that there was a need for respite care for parents who had disabled children. They sold their houses, pooled the cash and bought the lovely big Rossendale Hall - where I sit and type this to you today.

Initially the hall was intended as a place for short stay care, but it developed into a full time care home over the years. Above is a short stay resident from 1978.
Now the hall looks like this:

We have 61 tenants living with us across Cheshire and Derbyshire. And I can tell you, it's a truly lovely place to work!

Rosie Tabner - Admin & PR Officer

The Rossendale Trust Runners have arrived

Rosie here, Sue Heaven's minion/assistant (she's The Rossendale Trust's lovely head of PR, Admin and Fundraising)-

We have eight runners who have so bravely said they will do next years London Marathon for us. Brilliant. I said I was going to originally then very cleverly got suddenly extremely busy, and no longer able to do sufficient training. What a shame. I'll have to leave it to the professionals.

My fellow colleagues Operations Manager, Jason, and Senior Support Worker, Ellen, have bravely volunteered as well. It will be there first time!

Others on the team are seasoned pro's. Toby Eyres has run this race for us about 6..or is it 8 times?!!(Correct me if I'm wrong there Toby) In fancy dress too! The spice girl outfit was my favourite, I think.

Well we think you're all wonderful! and we wish you all the best with your training! The date of the race is Sunday 21st April 2013. It seems far away, but I bet it will creep up on us!

Keep us updated with your progress folks!

Here's a picture of Tim - a runner last year who raised over £1000 for us. Nice one Tim!

Rosie Tabner - PR & Admin Officer.