I have CF and Im running the London Marathon

roblake29

New member
Hello to everyone out there. I hope you all have had a wonderful festive season! My name is Rob, I am 24 w/cf and I live in London, England. Over Christmas I received some wonderful news that I had been accepted to run in the famous London Marathon in April 2005.
It has always been an ambition of mine to run a marathon, but of course having CF can be seen as a bit of an obstacle in this regard! However, I am extremely fortunate to be in very good health and have been training (in the cold!) for months, and will continue to up until the race. I truly believe I am more than capable of running the 26.2 miles and have even set myself an ambitious target time of sub 4-hours, a very decent time even for non CFers.
I have spoken with quite a few doctors and physicians over here and they don't know of any other person with CF who has ever attempted such a fete. This has further motivated me to raise money and train hard. I am raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust (The UK based CF charity - similar to the CFF), with an initial target of £3000. I believe this is a reachable goal.
In my campaigning for donations, I have spoken with hundreds of people about my condition... many of whom have heard of CF but never really known what it was. Like most of you I am sure, I feel just spreading the word about CF is hugely important. What better way to raise awareness of an issue than to raise money for it.
In this regard, I was wondering if any of you out there would like to sponsor me to run in the 2005 London Marathon. I have set up a webpage. If you have a moment, please check it out: www.justgiving.com/robertlake

Wish me luck! All the best,

Rob
 

anonymous

New member
Good Luck Rob !!!! Good for you.. I know lots of people who have improved their lung function by exercising... I think that is wonderful.. Please keep us posted on how you do.....
 

Mockingbird

New member
Best of luck! That really is an inspiration! Of course, I would never dream of running a marathon... even without cf. That comes from being lazy. =-) Anyway, congratulations!

Jarod
 

Emmie

New member
Hi Rob!

Congratulations on the good news. This really is fantastic to hear and you are going to be really proud on the big day I'm sure.

My brother (now 33yrs) has CF and ran the London marathon in 2000. It was one of the biggest days of his life as I'm sure it will be for you too. Good luck with the training, it must be hard work!

Btw, have you thought about posting what you are doing on the UK CF Forums? The website is http://www.cftrust.co.uk/ Then click on "Meeting Point".

Good Luck!

Emmie
 

roblake29

New member
Hi Emmie, thanks very much for your kind words. It is really great to hear that there is someone else out there who has already gone through what I am about to go through in April. It is sure to be a wonderful and unforgetable experience. I am hoping that this will be the start of a more concerted effort to firstly, take greater care of my health, and secondly, to show greater concern for other people with CF. I sometimes forget just how lucky I am!
Thank you again for your encouragement... and please pass on my regards to your bro. I am following in his brave footsteps!

Rob

PS: Thanks for your advice btw. I have since now posted on the CFTrust website!
 

anonymous

New member
I certainly will Rob! And if you ever want to speak to him about anything then just let me know via the UK forum and I'll put you in touch! Hope the training is going well at the mo, despite this horrible weather! Will be thinking of you on the big day!

Take care!
 

shamrock

New member
Well done Rob. I ran a 3k minithon on Dublin 2years ago. I'm useless at running but it was great to raise money for charity!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
 
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