A Journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step

Headway day out - Jersey October 2007

The Journey

Recovery

Fund Raising

Running

Headway UK

Headway Swindon

Further Reading /
Inspirational books

Touching the Void

It's not about the Bike

The Lore of Running

I was in Jersey to run the marathon for Headway Jersey and to visit the members again after my visit in April.

I was picked up from the hotel by Mark one of the Activities Coordinators who took me to the Standard Chartered Bank where I picked up my race pack. Then we went back to meet the Headway members at the Le Coie center.

I was most impressed to hear that as well as there being a Headway relay team (Headway Helmets) with one of the members,Gary, running a leg, there were about 10 members doing the 3k Fun Run and one member, David, doing the full marathon.

Davids achievement would be even more significant because this will to be his first, and possibly only, marathon.

Henry Wanyoike and Joseph Kabunja, who run for Seeing is Believing called in to meet members. Henry is blind and has run a 2:32 marathon. I cannot even imagine running that fast, but doing it blind is remarkable. While I was talking with them Joseph offered me their training plan for the Bejing Olympics next year, I had to admit to him that I couldn't even run at what they would think of as an 'Easy' pace.

After Henry and Joseph had left, some of the members where going to Hamptonne for the afternoon out so I joined them. It's a collection of restored farm buildings and livestock showing what it would have been like 300 years ago.

We spent a couple of hours walking around looking at the buildings and some of their calves and pigs. Alot o the room in the buildings had notices about the use that it is though was made of the rooms before, in one room were a couple of people in period costume explaining some things. We stopped in the tea shop there for a cup of tea and a cake before we got back in the bus and went back into St Hellier.

The marathon route passed up the same road, so I had a preview of the incline, not the mountain suggested by the profile. I did not regard the 'hill' as a problem, it was at a very gentle angle. It was really no more than a incline, albeit one that went on for 3 miles.