Run 4 Me Mum

24/05/2020

A simple 5k with Cara around Anfield Stadium and Stanley Park in memory of my Mum. LFC was her team and if it wasn't for the strange times we find ourselves in, she would have hung on long enough to see them win their first premiership title, however that wasn't to be. We got some great photos and remembered a fantastic lady. Love you Mum ###

23/05/2020

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have to tell you that Mum passed away yesterday evening. She died peacefully in her sleep, at home, without any pain, after nearly 2 years of battling with this horrible disease. Mum was given just 3-6 months in June 2019, and the fact that she thought 'sod that' and fought on for another 11 months was Mum's way of sticking one in the eye to lung cancer.

Sadly, due to the current situation there will not be a funeral service over in Spain; but a simple cremation on Monday instead. To compound matters, the current travel restrictions means that neither Cara or I will be able to attend, and the hope is that once some sort of normality has returned to the world, we will travel to Spain to celebrate Mum's life with a big social gathering, full of laughter and fond memories of Mum. Hopefully by then Liverpool will have also won the league, meaning double celebrations!

We have received so many lovely messages today, and even flowers, and it got us thinking how we could mark Mum's passing in a socially acceptable way.

So we are asking for everybody who joined us at any of our half marathons in 2019, (or even if you didn't!) to dedicate your next run be it today, tomorrow, Monday, or whenever, to Ann. If you have a Roy's Runners vest even better, please take a selfie and post it to this page, or your own feed and tag Cara or I into it. Ultimately we're looking to produce a montage of selfies to show to my dad, Roy, and tell him how our running friends marked Mum's passing.

Finally if you would like to, (and we've just checked, the page is still open) instead of flowers, if you could perhaps make a small donation to Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation by way of remembering Mum, that would be a really nice touch too.

Thank you again for all of your lovely messages today, they do really mean a lot.

Nick & Cara ###

Help Nick Bartlett raise money to support Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

24/03/2019

10 DOWN 3 TO GO!!

We both loved Wilmslow half marathon today, beautiful course and supportive marshalls blummin' everywhere! Hats off to them for a well organised race, lovely medal and t-shirt. Nice to have a few of our Knowsley Harriers teamies there too.

We reached double figures today with a combination of pride and pain, proud of our little leggies but we're in a fair bit of pain it has to be said. But, let's not forget that this wasn't supposed to be easy, if it was then everyone would be doing it. No, we're doing it to support Mrs B the first ❤

Next up is a social half; Liverpool running superstar Eamonn Brady is allowing us to jump on next week's Happy Bus. Starting at 7am from Otters Cafe...don't forget clocks go forward an hour next Sunday so an hour less in bed (a rare dry Saturday night on the cards for Team B!), and, it's Mothers Day! (Really don't forget that folks 🙈)

Hope to see a few of our running friends there 🤗

Lots of love

Nick & Cara xx

09/03/2019

*** HALF MARATHON NUMBER 8 ***

Friends! We’re over the halfway point!! For those doing Liverpool Landmarks Half Marathon tomorrow, we are gathering at the Beatles statue, Pier Head at 8:45am for a group picture with the Roy Castle banner, it would be lovely if you could join us and have your support recorded for posterity 😀 Hope to see as many of you there as possible, thank you 🙏🏻

PS don’t forget if you can chuck a few pounds in Nicks pot that would be just lovely ###

Nick is raising money to help Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

24/02/2019

🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻‍♂️Run Review: Half Marathon #6!!🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻‍♂️

T’was a misty murky morning that greeted us at Halewood Environment Park today, and after an earlier course check we even had to issue safety guidelines as Ramsbrook Lane was without pavement...and without much visibility!! 🔦 Nevertheless off we went steadily wending our way to Hale Lighthouse up hill and down dale. A surprise visit from Steph of Roy Castle and friends made for a great photo opportunity with the Childe of Hale! 🐕 🐶 A quick pit stop at mile 6 for water, sweeties and a chat when some of our injured friends made for a shorter route and headed on to the mile 13 point by car. The rest ploughed on with the mist lifting slightly and nattering right the way back to the end when wouldn’t you know we then had blue skies and bright sunshine! ☀️We had a great number of runners with us today with representation from at least 4 running clubs; Knowsley Harriers, Liverpool Running Club, Penny Lane Striders, and even as far as Wales with Islwyn RC proving just how lucky we are to have such camaraderie in the Liverpool running community and beyond 😀A special mention must go out to John Bosward who made today’s event part of his 20 mile training run ahead of London Marathon, and Alan Moore and Lurdes Corlett for reaching 23 miles today as training for Manchester Marathon and Lakeland 50 mile ultra!! 👏🏻

Half marathons 7 and 8 are organised races, being Anglesey Half and BTR Liverpool Half, and no doubt we’ll see lots of our running friends there, but our next social Half takes place on Sunday 17th March, keep your peepers peeled for details! Again we really could do with the company as your support is invaluable.

Finally let’s not forget one of the reasons we’re doing this is to raise much needed funds for lung cancer research, as well as Nick challenging himself whilst his mum goes through her own challenge against lung cancer for which she is receiving chemotherapy treatment over in Spain. You can find the Justgiving link in the main details of this page, if you can spare a few ££ we’d be truly grateful.

Thank you all again ❤️

Nick & Cara ###

10/02/2019

Looking forward to seeing you all shortly...we set off at 10am from the Iron Bridge at Sefton Park, looking to get a group piccy a bit before that 📸 🏃🏼‍♀️ 🏃🏻‍♂️

05/02/2019

*RUN NUMBER 3 REVIEW*

We always knew that our third run, Aintree Half Marathon, was going to be a toughie, not because you had to hurdle Bechers Brook 🐎 (in fact the race was as flat as a pancake 🥞 ) but because it was 4 Very. Boring. Laps. Yawn.

We’d been keeping a keen eye on the weather forecast all week due to the recent snow and ice, and were almost welcoming the tropical 6c and rain 🌧. However because the forecasters are always wrong ❌ what met us was glorious sunshine ☀️ but freezing temps 🥶

It was also the smallest, loneliest field in a half marathon that either of us have ever taken part in (just 295 *fast* finishers) and we knew we were at real risk of having our first ‘last’ position in a race 🙈 In fact there were just 5 finishers behind us, despite us each achieving sub 2:30!

Then there was the illness. Right up until it was time to leave the house, Nick was resolute on not taking me to the race as I had coughed my way through the whole of the previous night and woke up with no voice!! But me being the stubborn madam I am insisted I’d be fine...well by mile 2 there was a mini breakdown...tears, apologies, lots of ‘I can’t do it’ yadder yadder 😭 (Cara not Nick!) I’d like to say I warmed up and settled into it but I never did, I just got my head down and pushed through the wheezing and the cold induced leg cramps.

But we both did it, you can’t enjoy every single race can you? And it was, by comparison, just a very small challenge when compared to what Nick’s Mum Ann is going through at the moment with her chemotherapy treatment. And that is what this is all about; Nick challenging himself as a show of solidarity and support to his Mum, and trying to raise a bit of cash along the way to support Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

So 3 down, 10 to go!! If you would like to join us the next social Half Marathon is this coming Sunday, 10th February. Details are yet to be finalised but it’s likely to be in South Liverpool (routes are invited and most welcome!!) But watch the page for details.

Again a massive thank you to all who have support us by donating and/or joining us on a run, much love 💗

Nick & Cara ###

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/run4memum

27/01/2019

***RUN NUMBER 2 REVIEW***

Todays' half marathon, number 2 of 13, was a social affair taking in the woods and parklands of South Liverpool. The morning started by us taking shelter from the biting, howling wind in the Childwall Fiveways pub, and then the runners started arriving, and arriving, and arriving! We were so delighted with the amount of people who came along to support us when faced with such bad weather; it could have been so easy just hide under the duvet this morning!

We had runners from no less than 4 different running clubs join us today; Knowsley Harriers, Liverpool Running Club, Penny Lane Striders, and Liverpool Running Bugs (sorry if we've missed any), proving that the running community really are just the best when it comes to pulling together in support of a great cause, on this occasion, Roy Castle Lung Foundation.

Representatives from Roy Castle came along to cheer us on, and we started our challenging run, not only by trying to put one foot in front of the other in breathtaking wind, but also through a combination of funny run/jump/swerve routine to avoid fallen branches and any unfortunate twig entanglements. Despite making a last minute diversion to avoid the mud of Childwall Woods, there was still plenty in store for us in Black Woods and Calderstones park! Shored up by a water and jelly babies stop (Haribo Twin Jelly Babies are ace!) we battled the wind through Sefton and Princes parks, and when 'delicately' plodding through a flooded field in the Mystery park due to equally flooded paths, we also witnessed Mother Nature at first hand as a tree came crashing down as we ran past! 🙈

Big thanks to the faster runners today, for looping back and offering encouragement/engaging in a spot of traffic management as we battled up the hills.

We also had the great news today that Nick and Cara will be joining other Roy's Runners at the Great North Run in September. If you find yourself unlucky in the ballot then please do consider running for RR! Please message us if you'd like to know more and we'll signpost you in the right direction.

Once again it was so touching to see you all, thank you very much for coming along and keeping Nick and Cara company...2 down, 11 to go! Next up is Aintree Half Marathon, hope to see some familiar faces there 🤗

If you fancy joining us in our next social run then this takes place on Sunday 10th February, watch this page for more information!

And finally, thank you so much to those who have been so generous and sponsored us in our quest to run 13 x 13.1 miles in 13 weeks!! If you would like to throw a quid or two in the pot the link is here:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/run4memum

Nick & Cara ###

23/01/2019

A couple of nice snaps from Sunday’s 1st half marathon courtesy of Mick Hall photos, cheers guys!

20/01/2019

Run 1 of 13 completed. Helsby half marathon. Tough course with zero flat sections 🙄 Next Sunday 27th is the first of our social half marathons. 10am from Childwall Fiveways, nice steady pace everyone is welcome, will be nice to see some familiar faces to get me round 😀 meet up around 9.45, prompt start at 10am