The Marathon Shop

Due to my marathon challenge this year I feel I am included in the ‘London Marathon Community’  I recently heard about the Official London Marathon Shop. I decided to take a trip to Bishopsgate to see the store for myself and purchase some of the official London Marathon 2016 sports wear. 

This store was so much more then I expected it to be - it was totally amazing! 

Having my insoles fitted

I think it has the world's most helpful and inclusive team of staff. The store is lead by the store manager, Jason Curzon, a real gentleman. As soon as I walked into the shop, I was met with friendly faces and an instant offer of help. After explaining my story and the challenge I am undertaking, the supportive conversation flowed. Jason took the time to talk me through the challenge, the equipment and the kit recommended. He helped me with moulded insoles to go inside my trainers and gave me great advice. We posed together for photographs, viewed all the amazing marathon facts and examined the previous years medals there on display. I was even given a goody bag!  

With Jason

It felt so nice to be involved in such a special experience. I then noticed Jason had tweeted about my visit. This really feels supportive encouraging and gives me a sense of being part of something that's so amazing.

Well worth a visit if your wanting to get to feel the real sense of what the London marathon is all about; a great sense of pride.

Please support my marathon and Sparks by donating here.

Support and encouragement

I'm walking daily now and can feel my stamina improving each time. I try and break up my walking by using some of the exercise machines and equipment in my local park to try and vary my training.

I started to realise that I needed to build up other muscles so that I can face this challenge. I think using machines and doing stretching exercises helps me deal with some of the aches and pains I am experiencing. 

I use the machines to warm up before starting my walks and warm down after I've finished my walk. My legs are aching but I can feel that I'm building my muscle strength and ability to walk further. My trainers are really helping too! 

I'm feeling really supported by the amazing, generous donations and words of encouragement I'm receiving. As the actual marathon start date gets nearer, I'm receiving more emails from Virgin Money with various details and I'm beginning to feel slightly anxious. I really do want to succeed with this challenge. 

I'm really starting to realise the power of the supportive messages. Once I read these I get an extra a feeling of strength and determination. Thank you to everyone for your support so far. Please don't stop!

Please sponsor me here 

Growing up With a Disability

With my doctor, Nick Merrifield

When growing up with a disability, you become quite use to hospitals and doctors waiting rooms. Having check ups, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and much more, has become part of my weekly routine, along with operations to stretch, straighten and strengthen my muscles

A lot of people that know me as I am today don't know the struggles I've had growing up with a disability but  I've had 18 years to figure out the best ways to deal with and work around my condition. Through the years, I've found many ways to adapt situations that I might find difficult and make them situations I can handle. I've worked out these adaptations through a lot of trial and error as well as using what I call 'life hacks when you have a disability'

Many people who don't have a disability or know somebody with one, will not understand or consider the daily struggle just to get out of bed and leave the house. Not only do I have to perform a daily physio routine just so I can stand up and function each morning, I also have to pre-plan my day and consider certain things that I might struggle with and find ways to work around them. For example, I struggle to get a bus or train, which most people wouldn't even need to think about.

When doing anything I always have to consider my physical capabilities. My friends can just decide to do something or go somewhere and it's not always that easy for me. This is why for my upcoming challenge there had to be a lot of meetings, discussions and doctor's appointments before I could officially agree to participate in the London Marathon 2016. I have a very dedicated team to help me complete my challenge with success and I have a great support network to help me through my challenge. 

For this blog, I thought you would like to hear from somebody who has been involved in my story for many years. He has a good insight to me, my condition and just how hard my challenge really is going to be. Dr Nick Merrifield is my local GP and I see him most often out of all my doctors and surgeons. Nick has very kindly offered to comment  in support of my enormous challenge that I am trying to undertake for 2016.  

Here are Nick's thoughts on my London Marathon 2016:

"I have known Zoe for a number of years and have seen the ups and downs which inevitably come with her condition; cerebral palsy. She has borne them with strength, dignity and hope for the future which is remarkable given that every day life for her can be more physically and mentally draining than most of us will ever experience. I have heard a little about her work with Sparks over the years and it is not a surprise at all that she has been such an inspiration to so many other children and young people with serious illnesses such as she has. When she told me about the marathon idea I was a little nervous, given she sometimes can look like she can struggle to walk to my office from the waiting room! Despite this, I have never doubted her huge determination and spirit and after hearing how she has managed to obtain support from professional paralympic trainers, Team Sparks and Team Deutsche Bank (huge credit to them too!) then I'm sure she is unstoppable. We are all behind her at Holmwood Corner Surgery and hope that plenty of the patients see the posters and sponsor her too."

I am grateful for the support being given to me by so many. Not long to go now, 44 days and counting!

Please sponsor me here

My community

As word of my challenge begins to spread, I have found that people in my community really want to help and get involved in any way they can, whether that be with raising awareness, contributing to my fundraising or just keeping me company while I train. 

It is so lovely to see real community values. My challenge has allowed me to see these values as my local community are all pulling together to try and support me in my endeavour. It's so rewarding. Since going public with my challenge I have had several offers from many people in my area, some whom I know well and others that I am just meeting for the first time after they heard about this challenge. 

I have had offers of help from my local doctor's surgery, sports club, beauty salon, dry cleaners and many other on the high street offering to display posters and hand out the leaflets I created about my challenge. I've also been offered places on the various Newsletters and social media of local businesses. I am totally taken back by the level of support offered to me by everyone around me. 

Over the next few weeks, people in my community have arranged a lot of fundraising opportunities for my challenge, including bake sales and raffles. I even had cash handed to me while I was on the park exercise machines! There is even talks about a 'Mass Marathon training session' with local residents who wish to join in and support me.

The amount of people that tell me they have put the dates of my challenge in their diaries so that they can come and support me and cheer me on is totally amazing and so surreal. 

I really do feel supported by my community but also from the Sparks team and Deutsche Bank team. I know that if I wasn't as supported as I am, I wouldn't have been able to even consider the massive challenge of the London Marathon as a possibility. it is actually becoming a real possibility. I can't believe that the London Marathon 2016 is only 45 days away.

It's all becoming so real!

Please sponsor me HERE