A FRIEND’S cancer diagnosis has spurred on a local man to his best-ever half-marathon time.
On Sunday, March 17, Reading Buses communications and marketing manager Jake Osman swapped the Leopards and Orange routes for his running shoes so he could take part in the Reading Half.
He achieved his fastest-ever time of 1 hour 45 minutes and 59 seconds, something that has delighted him.
“I managed to get a personal best in the race! I ran in 1.45.59 – the first time I’ve been under 1.46 so was very happy with that,” he said.
The keen runner was inspired by his friend’s treatment to sign up to the Reading event and he’s now looking to take part in more races in a bid to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research.
And they include what Mr Osman says will be ‘back-to-back weekends of pain’ this June when he takes part in two ultra-marathons!
Saturday, June 8 will see him tackle the Race to the Tower – 52 miles of trails in the Cotswolds. The aim is to run this in about 13 hours.
And a week later, he will take part in Endure 24, a 24-hour race at Wasing Park.
The 36-year-old said: “I will be in a team of two with my wife Nicki and we will both be aiming to run around 50 miles fuelled by little more than caffeine and bloody-mindedness!
“I’m definitely going to add more miles with more races planned later on in the year, hopefully including at least one marathon and another half marathon or two.”
Jake is pleased to say that his friend is responding ‘really well’ to treatment.
“She’s been really positive about the whole thing and that has inspired me to fundraise for Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens and help to find better treatments and, longer term, hopefully a cure.
“Every pound counts, so it would be lovely for as many people as possible to donate – even if it is literally just £1.
“And if people don’t want to donate online, they can donate £3 to Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens by texting KIDS to 70200,” he added.
Jake has set up a fundraising page as part of the ‘Reading Buses Super team page’ on the Cancer Research UK fundraising platform which ensures that every penny raised goes to the charity.
To support Jake, log on to fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/jakes-ultra-pain
