RUNNING FOR THE KARIBUNI TRUST


The London Marathon 26th April 2009
by Roger Kirk, Aylesbury

This was the fifth time I have run the London Marathon since I took up running fifteen years ago at the age of 50, and each time I have raised money for the Karibuni Trust a cause dear to my heart.

I am a member of the Vale of Aylesbury Athletic Club which I joined some years ago to support my son Nigel who is an athlete. One of the members of the club finished this years London Marathon in 2 hours 22 minutes!

One of my aims this year was to set a record for the Athletic Club at marathon distance for the 65+ age group and in future the 70+ age group. Unfortunately this year due to work pressure (I retired 5 years ago!) I had neither the time to train nor to collect sponsorship properly and both my performance and sponsorship results suffered accordingly.

My training over the previous 6 months consisted of one long run a week, building up from about 40 minutes to 2hours 30 minutes for my longest run of 17.5 miles. Most training schedules recommend running 3 or 4 days a week with a longest run of 20 miles. I was not best prepared.

Saturday 25th April, the eve of the race, saw me safely lodged in St Pauls Youth Hostel, 50 yards from the Cathedral and within 20 minutes walk from London Bridge station where I was to catch the free train to Blackheath at 8am the following morning.

The most important thing in race preparation is to get to the starting line on time and I had rehearsed the route from the Hostel to the station the previous Wednesday when I came up to register.

Race day started fresh with a cloudless sky and after a 6.30am breakfast, especially arranged for the 40 or so marathon runners, I safely arrived at Blackheath with an hour to spare. I adopted the recommended position of lying on my back in the sun to completely relax physically and mentally. Having stripped down to my running shorts and vest I deposited my belongings on the baggage lorry , joined the toilet queue and made my way to pen 5 of the blue start where after a 15 minute wait and spot on 9.45am the starting gun went off. A large cheer went up but no one moved an inch, but after a minute we started a slow shuffle, then a walk and eventually a slow jog and I crossed the line about 4 minutes later, safe in the knowledge that the micro chip attached to my left shoe would record the exact time I crossed the start line at Blackheath and the finish line in the Mall.

My previous time 3 years before was 3 hours 50 minutes and my target this year was to keep up a 9 minute mile to bring me home in about 4 hours. The first 20 miles went exactly to plan with about 3 minutes in hand and a few clouds prevented it getting to hot. At 20 miles, as I had expected, I had to have brief walks and at first managed to run on and off for the next two miles. However at mile 22 my calf muscles complained and I spent the final 4 miles mainly walking thus completely wrecking my target and I eventually came home in 4 hours 17 minutes.

Sue had travelled up to support me but we failed to see each other at Tower Bridge due to the crowds but we finally met up at the finish after much use of mobile phones. The support of the crowds was amazing with offerings of jelly babies and orange segments en route which were very welcome.

Although disappointed with my time, in retrospect it was a good weekend and it goes to show if you don’t put in the training you don’t get the result.

My next escapade in August/September is to cycle form Glasgow to Dover via Aberdeen having done Lands End to John O’Groats in 2007. Watch this space.

Well done Bill, Joy and Corrine and the others who work for Karibuni. We're right behind you!

Roger Kirk


The Reading Half Marathon
by Katy Day


Around this time last year, I committed to running the Reading Half Marathon as a new challenge for myself. I had never run more than 5km in one go before and had always hated running in general! The Karibuni trust was the obvious choice of charity for me as I had first hand experience of their work. A few years ago I travelled to Kenya and did some voluntary work at some of the projects there. I stayed for 2 weeks in Nairobi, helping at the Tusaidie Watoto Nursery School in Kibera each day and then stayed in Meru for 3 weeks, working at the children’s home there. Both were amazing, eye opening experiences for me and I have stayed in touch with some of the wonderful people I met there and hope to go back some day.

I started training for the run in August last year but injured my foot early on and had to wait for another month before starting again. Luckily I found out that a friend of mine was also planning to run it for the first time too, so we supported each other and trained together for the big day. In training we only ran up to 9.5 miles a few times though, so the real run would still be a challenge for us (13.1 miles).

I also did a few 5 and 10km races for charity as practice, such as ‘Race for Life’ and ‘Santa fun runs’. I didn’t really enjoy the long training sessions, but on the day I actually really enjoyed myself. I managed to keep running the whole way round and knock 5mins off the time I was hoping for!

My final time was 2hrs 15mins and I managed to raise about £300 for the Karibuni Trust.

My charity website is www.justgiving.com/katyday.

Katy Day

The Bath Half Marathon
by Claire Phillips



I managed to complete my first (and last??) half marathon in Bath in March this year. The Bath Half Marathon passes the bottom of our road each year and always has an amazing atmosphere, so 2 years ago a friend and I promised each other that we would go for it in 2009. I was keen to raise some money for Karibuni Trust.

Although I always considered myself fairly fit and active, at the beginning (over a year beforehand) I found it tough just to run around the local park! I managed to get together with various friends for training (combining with a bit of a chat!) and gradually found myself managing more and more distance. I started to enjoy the feeling of being fitter.

When the big day came I felt surprisingly nervous, but the start was awesome with 11,000 competitors gathering in clear sunshine .
The run was tough going in places and I felt every 13.1 miles of it, but I made it round the course (the winners came in in just over an hour, but I was pretty pleased with my time of 2h 14mins).

The crowds of people were really fantastic , especially friends and family along the way. Finishing was exhilerating and a real sense of accomplishment.

By using the just giving website plus collecting from family , friends and work colleagues I have managed to raise £611.08 for Karibuni Trust.

I would ceratinly encourage anyone who is just thinking about doing something like this to have a go!

Claire Phillips