Running brings rich rewards…

My running story began just over a year ago and started with a Parkrun and my brother, Bryan.

I had taken part in a couple of Parkruns and although I was mainly walking them, I enjoyed them as the atmosphere was so friendly.

And in the summer of 2018, both work friends and colleagues from Henshalls joined our family as we all took part in a Parkrun together shortly before Bryan had major surgery following his cancer diagnosis.

Bryan (who is a Henshalls director) is also a run leader with Lawley Running Club. He explained there was a Couch to 5k course beginning in September last year, and he encouraged me to sign up!

I haven’t looked back! It is without doubt the best thing I have done.

Having never run before (I hated PE at school) and not really doing any positive physical exercise in adulthood, I have gone from walking a 5k to running four half-marathons and a good number of 10k races with confidence this year, which is not something I thought I’d ever achieve.

Bryan, in addition to being a fantastic brother, is an excellent motivator! He has encouraged and supported my running “journey” from the beginning, and it’s no exaggeration to say that if it were not for him, I would not be running.

He recognised that it would be good for me, the benefits it would bring, and what I could get out of it with some effort on my part. 

I joined Lawley Running Club last year and found a whole new social side to running, making new friendships that I would not have met any other way.

I will run alongside Bryan for as long as possible, which hopefully will be for a long time to come – there are more races we want to do!

And that’s why we’re running next year’s London Landmarks Half Marathon. It’s a very special race and I was lucky enough to run it with Bryan and his wife Alison, our sister, nephew and running club friends last year.

We’re looking forward to running it again in 2020, with more family and friends also taking part, so it’s something I’m very excited to be part of.

We’ll also be raising money for Tommy’s Charity, with the aim of raising as much as we can to help them continue their vital work in researching baby loss and supporting families who experience the tragedy of miscarriage, still or premature births.

So I hope you don’t mind, but if you’re able to support our efforts here’s a link to Bryan’s Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/Bryan-Cutter2?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=Bryan-Cutter2&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=dVejbMBrg

Thanks everyone! Now it’s time to get back to pounding those pavements!

Sarah