This weekend I am running the EMF 10k for Macmillan Cancer Care with my gal Rachel. The reason that I agreed to the hell that is running is obviously because Macmillan is a wonderful charity and they have actually had an impact on my family recently while my granny was in the hospital. But I was also so inspired by Rachel.

This year she has been studying a MSc in Clinical Exercise Science and as part of it she has a module about excercise rehabilitation for people with cancer. As a result of this she was compelled to start a fundraising project and every month of this year she’s been doing crazy things to raise money for Cancer Research UK and Macmillan. It’s been amazing to see her become so engaged in a cause and really dedicate her time even whilst going through all the stress of uni, dance and work (and there has been a lot this year) and I am so proud of her. We have spoken a lot about her course, particularly in her interest of using dance as the exercise that can help alleviate the side effects of cancer and improve their mental health and enjoyment of life. We both obviously have an invested interest in dance and are touched by cancer so when she asked me if I would run the 10K with her, I accepted the challenge.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not 100% buzzing about it as I really hate running, it is especially boring when you’re used to dancing for exercise and the training has been pretty tough on top of work but I do know that it’s a worthwhile thing to do and honestly I could use the goal to work towards now that I don’t have any dance for the summer.

We’ve been training super hard and hoping to smash our target time this weekend! If you can part with a few pennies for the amazing charity Macmillan, please donate here! I would appreciate it so much!

*

So WE DID IT! It was indeed a challenge because as is natural in Edinburgh there were loads of hills plus Rachel’s asthma was not playing the game but we were lucky to have nice cool weather and plenty of supporters cheering along the way. I’m going to be frank here, despite having finished it and being super proud of that, I still do not enjoy running so I’m not sure that it’s going to become my new thing but at least I’ve done it. So glad that I had Rachel by my side through all of it and now maybe we can gym together without having to run for an hour each time! There’s still time to donate here!

#dancersVcancer

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

*

P.s. I recently chopped off most of my hair to donate to the wonderful Little Princess Trust again who make real-hair wigs for children with cancer so hopefully that can help some more people who are struggling with the effects of chemotherapy. If you’re ever thinking about dramatically cutting your hair I would really recommend donating your hair!