THE MOTHER of a child with a disability, managed to complete a 10k charity London-based run despite training exclusively at home.
Due to the special needs of her son, Beth Jones has to be quite close by to him at all times, so any training she put in for Vitality London 10K had to be carried out at home.
Beth is a regular at Our House, the disabled children’s centre run by Wokingham charity Building For The Future (BFTF).
New to Wokingham, Beth, 44-year-old mum of two, was feeling very isolated.
Her son Zac, four, has autism and a heart condition, and Beth cares for him and her 19-month-old daughter Sienna, as well as working as a PA to a chief executive of a major national retailer.
Despite being busy she felt quite alone, until a local health professional recommended that she take her family to Our House.
The centre offers free play therapy sessions to disabled children and their siblings, and space for families to meet and share experiences.
“I took the children to Building For The Future’s Our House one Saturday afternoon and we received the biggest welcome,” said Beth.
“It is such a nice place and it was good to meet other parents and to hear I am not alone.
“Everyone there is on a similar path.”
One day Beth took her partner along to one of the sessions, and he talked with the charity’s CEO Jane Holmes about how the organisation relies solely on donations.
Beth decided she wanted to give something back to the group, and thought about running.
She knew she didn’t have the time to train for a marathon, but thought she might manage a 10k run.
Her initial target was to raise £250, but she was surprised to surpass that amount on the first day.
“I thought if I can get to that target – great, but within an hour I was at £1,000,” she said.
“The donations kept pouring in and they really kept me motivated.”
One major difference between Beth and many long-distance runners is that she had to do the months of training entirely from home.
Due to the nature of her son’s disability he didn’t want to be too far from her so she trained on a running machine and used whatever she could at home to build strength and stamina.
“I haven’t done any running since school days so training was tough,” she said, “but I really got into it and I kept thinking about all the little children at Our House.
“I am so happy that I did the run for Building for the Future.
“Everyone at the charity was so grateful.”
The London route, which takes in some of London’s most famous landmarks, including St Paul’s Cathedral and Big Ben, was a memorable experience for Beth.
“The atmosphere on the day was brilliant and the support all around was incredible,” she said.
“Now I want to keep going and raise as much as I can for BFTF.”
To support Beth, visit: justgiving.com and search for Beth’s Fundraiser for Building for the Future Wokingham.
For information, visit: bftf.org.uk
