The London Landmarks Half Marathon takes place on 1st August and we caught up with one of our superhero runners, Katherine Marlow, to tell us why she’s taking on this exciting challenge…
What do you do and had you come across Cerebra before deciding to run for us?
I am a first year PhD student at the University of Birmingham. I conduct research within the Cerebra Network for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and a couple of years ago I worked as an honorary research assistant within the then-Cerebra Centre. I heard about the chance to run for Cerebra during one of our Zoom Network coffee mornings, and decided to run with it (if you pardon the pun).
Why have you chosen to run for Cerebra?
Cerebra is a fantastic cause, and beyond ‘the day job’ I am honoured to find another way to support the charity through this campaign.
Have you run a half marathon before?
Not even close… but I love a challenge and dedicating myself to something. When I heard about the opportunity to run I thought back to the promise I made to myself during lockdown: “when people offer you opportunities that you can take, just say YES!” so here we are.
How are you finding the training so far, how often are you running and how far each week?
Training is going well (so far… it is only week 2 though…) I’m running three times a week, all at different distances. So I’ll run an ‘easy’ 2 miles (if there is such a thing) one day, my longest run mid-week (around 5 miles) then finish the week off with a 3 miler. As I say, we’re only two weeks in – every week the mileage increases so I might not be quite so upbeat in a couple of months! I’m also trying to pepper in less impactful exercises like swimming and yoga, just to take some of the strain off my body and to keep things a bit interesting.
How is the fundraising going?
After sharing my campaign over Facebook and Twitter I was delighted to hit over 50% of my £350 target after only one week!
Will you have friends and family to cheer you on come the event?
I’m sure my parents will love the excuse for a day trip to London, and I might convince my brother who lives near London to pop over and cheer me on. ?
What part of the event day are you looking forward to the most?
Crossing the finish line!!! (and the subsequent carb-loaded feast).
We’re so grateful to Katherine for taking on this challenge and absolutely thrilled to have her on ‘Team Cerebra’.
If you feel inspired to also take on a challenge for Cerebra, please email [email protected] to find out more.
