Charity Fundraiser for Guide Dogs – London Landmarks Half Marathon – April 2022

As some of you know, both myself and my wife Lisa love running, however back in mid-2021 Lisa suffered a vitreous detachment at the back of her eye and had to have quite invasive laser eye surgery to prevent a future retinal detachment (I’ll spare the gory details!). She had to take it easy and no running for months post-op.

Your eyesight (and running) is something that is all too easily taken for granted but the loss of it something you don’t ever want to happen. Lisa is making a good recovery now but for many, sight loss is a struggle that they have to live with forever. To help do our bit, we’ve been lucky enough to secure places in this year’s London Landmarks Half Marathon in April where we will both be supporting the fantastic Guide Dogs Charity.

We did it!

Well, we both managed the London Landmarks Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd April!
Since we last were in touch, we have both succumbed to Covid over the last two weeks before the event. Thankfully we suffered no more than a heavy cold but with it came fatigue which meant we had to rest more than we would have liked on the lead into the run. Despite testing negative we were both still not 100% recovered so we put all thoughts of aiming for Personal Bests out of the window and were just determined to complete the distance and really take in the surroundings and atmosphere.

It was a super cool and bright morning, perfect for running. As I hope you can see from the attached photos, the sun really shone on us and we ran past the great city landmarks such as St Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London, The Shard Skyscraper, The London Eye big wheel to name a few. We did run quite a bit slower than we had first planned and due to the remnants of Covid fatigue it felt more of a full marathon than a half. With the cheering of the crowds, entertainers, music along the route and the 15,000 other runners we crossed the line together in 2:18 but it wasn’t about the time it was more about overcoming adversity, not giving in to Covid and honouring our charity supporters.

Together with the generous support of the ATS Community we have currently raised nearly £800 for the Guide Dogs Charity (with some more pledges still to be received!)

The Tower of London LG

Running along the Tower of London 

The London Eye 

Medals!

About ATS Community:

ATS Community sponsors ATS employees who wish to make a personal effort to participate in activities for Charity in a sportive way. Find out more information on: ATS Community – Fund Raising page