8 days to marathon number 4

8 More Days to marathon number 4 and as Ger has named us The Mercy Marathon Mad Crew, I will be joined by an army of Family and Friends taking part in relays in the Cork marathon .  We will have 4 relays consisting of 15 family members from Newcastle West and again the girls from Killarney are stepping up to the challenge and they have entered a relay team.  Thanks Guys and one thing I know in Cork I definitely won't be lonely running the 26.2 miles.

This was another great week for our Derryquay school marathon challenge, on Thursday we went to Derrymore beach and added another 4.08 miles onto our total, well done to all of the Parents and Children for clocking up the miles.

I have to congratulate Cork 96fm who over 3 days held the Giving for Living Radiothon supporting cancer services in Cork with the Mercy Hospital being one of them.  During the 3 days Patients and family members told their stories about their journey through cancer, each and every story was very moving and I was very sad and proud to hear Pat's interview.  This made me more determined to raise as much money as possible for these vital services.

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To donate please use http://fundraise.mercyfundraising.ie/marathonbrenda

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A much gentler marathon .......................

This week the children from our school Derryquay National school started their journey on their first every marathon.  3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class (18 children in total) will be completing a marathon over a number of weeks to help us raise much needed funds.  On Friday we headed off to Derrymore beach where we walked/jogged a total of 4 miles,  the determination of each and everyone of the children was absolutely superb and it was also great to see some of the Parents taking part.  Each week we will be covering some of the distance and at the end of 6 weeks we will have a total of 26.2 miles covered.

WEEK 1

This week was taken up with trying to find accommodation in Donegal for the quadrathon in August.  I am finding it extremely difficult so if anyone has any contacts or knows of where I could find accommodation around the Culdaff/Buncranna areas, please let me know.

A huge congratulations to Bernie, Tina and Anna who ran as a relay team with me in the Limerick Marathon who finished first in the Lakes of Killarney Marathon on Saturday.  Well done girls.

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To donate please use http://fundraise.mercyfundraising.ie/marathonbrenda

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On the countdown ...........

Three marathons out of 12 done so I feel lithe countdown to Dublin is truly underway and the collection of medals is getting larger but more importantly the contributions to Cancer Research continues to increase which makes the running that bit easier.

This week has been a relatively easy week with just recovery runs.  I had hoped to go for a long run today but looking out at the weather I am not one bit tempted to head out .......... Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

There has been lots of planning this week for various events that we will be holding over the next few months to help with our fundraising, again a huge thank you to everyone that has donated, our running total is now at €9485.80, not far now to the €10,000 mark which will be brilliant when we achieve it.

I have 3 weeks of relative rest now, which feels like a long time and then I have 3 marathons Cork, Waterford and Killarney within a busy 6 week period.

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To donate please use http://fundraise.mercyfundraising.ie/marathonbrenda

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Marathon number 3 completed .............toughest yet

Today was marathon number 3 in Limerick. First of all I would like to thank 4 very special people who without them I would have struggled to finish.  Thank you to Michelle, Bernie, Anna and Tina.

Yesterday I learned that a friend of ours is having health problems. This was like being struck by a bolt of lightening.  I was suddenly taken back to 12 months ago when Pat was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.  The chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, feeding tubes, struggling to eat.....  I really questioned doing the marathon this morning.

I met the girls in Adare and we headed into the city. As we got out of the car, a very nice gentleman came up and asked which one of us was Brenda. He congratulated me and said that he was following my progress on Facebook. We met him afterwards and both him and his friend kindly made a donation.  Can't believe we never actually asked him his name,  this is so not like the girls......

Tina ran the first leg with me, Michelle the second (Michelle missed her bus to her changeover point and had to get a Garda escort, complete with blue flashing lights), Anna the third and Bernie the fourth.

Today was a struggle, not physically, my legs were absolutely fine, but mentally I struggled constantly wondering why, why do people have to suffer.  My family didn't let me down they were there all the way but no matter how much support, there was no smiles as I ran the 26.2 miles.

My challenge is to run 12 marathons in 8 months, this is exactly what I am going to do,  3 done and only 9 to go.  People keep telling me that I am brilliant for what I am doing, I fail to agree,  I have the easy part and all that involves is a 4 hour run every few weeks.

This is about fundraising for cancer research. It won't help Pat, hopefully it will help others.

Four weeks to marathon number 4 which is in Cork,  I am looking forward to heading to Cork for something other than a hospital appointment with Pat.  The start of this week will be relatively easy and then back into training............

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To donate please use http://fundraise.mercyfundraising.ie/marathonbrenda

Don't forget to share my facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/mercymarathons