Pauline’s 15th Middlesbrough 10k Run

Another one of our inspirational community, Pauline Lightfoot!

Pauline came along to our training sessions for the Middlesbrough 10k and it was lovely chatting to her and finding out her history with the event.  It was fantastic to hear that she was entering for the FIFTEENTH time and had entered every one since it started back in 2005.

Here is her story… 

“I decided to enter the first year because my brother was doing it.  I got him an entry form (he lived in Guilford then) because at the time he was running half marathons. I was very unfit but trained like mad!  I raised £200 for the Great North Air Ambulance which I was very proud of.” 

I remember Pauline telling me that her brother had bought her the ‘SMOGGY’ t-shirt as a Christmas present because he knew she was a big Boro fan.  She borrowed the shorts from her daughter’s boyfriend and the socks (which came up to her knees) from her daughter.  Pity the socks aren’t in the photo…I’m sure they were stripy!

“I enjoyed it so much I’ve entered every year since.  I’ve started doing Parkrun last January which I love.  The people are great and friendly.  Also, I’ve got my daughter, Gemma into running.  She has only done the Middlesbrough 10k once.  However, she started doing the Albert Parkrun at the same time as me.  She raised £500 for Jo’s Trust, a charity very close to her heart.”

Gemma was diagnosed with stage 1 cervical cancer just 2 weeks after her 25th birthday.  You can read her story and the importance of cervical screening via this link.

Thank you to Pauline for sharing.  I’m sure it will inspire many others.