Caroline Brown set herself the target to take part in 16 challenges in one year for ABTA LifeLine.
Having never run a mile, she decided to take on a 10k and it’s safe to say she caught the bug.
Not only did Caroline want to set herself a personal challenge but she wanted to give something back and fundraise for her industry charity.
Her first few challenges saw her battling wind, rain and of course a stitch or two but these were just training runs in comparison to what would be coming up…
Challenge 7 was the real deal, Caroline’s first marathon. Unsurprisingly she was a total warrior and smashed the 26 miler in less than four hours.
The halfway point was the Great Manchester Run followed quickly by the Liverpool Half Marathon. Caroline commented after her ninth challenge
“It feels great to be giving something back to the industry that served me so well over the years. Every time I meet up with the LifeLine team and hear about the fantastic new causes they are helping I am inspired to just keep running and raising money for this fantastic charity”.
It was then time for two more half marathons before the iconic Great North Run where she was joined by Robin Griffiths from Kuoni who was also flying the fundraising flag for ABTA LifeLine.
“An amazing experience and privilege to run for LifeLine. I can honestly say these challenges get harder as the year goes on. This was the most emotional and painful one yet”.
But giving up was never on the agenda. Motivated to continue by the generosity of friends, family and colleagues who donated, following some serious sports massages it was time for challenge 13 and another 10k.
The half marathon for challenge 14 was completed in the Lisbon heat and then it was time for the penultimate challenge – the Manchester Half Marathon.
Challenge 15 complete, Caroline reflected on her journey so far.
“I have loved telling fellow runners I have met about the work that this amazing charity does. I never imagined it would be such an emotional roller coaster of a journey or that the running would actually get harder as the year went on, trying to balance my work life and travelling with getting in those pesky training miles. One more challenge left on this memorable journey that has been rewarding and life changing for me in so many ways. Meeting so many people along the way, not to mention how humble I feel every time I read about the incredible people this charity helps. So please keep giving as we reach the end of my charity year journey and help me to reach my target. Thank you x”