PERMISSION GRANTED

MANY WOMEN CREDIT ANOTHER RUNNER WITH GIVING THEM THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SELF BELIEF TO RUN.HERE FOUR WOMEN TELL US WHO SIGNED THEIR PERMISSION SLIP TO RUN

PERMISSION SLIP

WORDS: Lisa Jackson

“My terminally ill friend asked me to run in her place”

Steph smiling proudly after her first half-marathon

Since taking up running, Steph has discovered a love of canicross!

“I took up running in 2015 at the request of my National Childbirth Trust (NCT) friend, Jane, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 37 earlier that year,” says Steph Bishop, 35, from Guildford. “Jane wanted me to take her place as running partner to another NCT friend as they’d run together on a regular basis. The training was better than I thought and I loved having the chance to get out of the house without any kids in tow and spend some time either by myself or with my friend. I also got trimmer and dropped a jeans size, something I never thought would happen as I already led quite a healthy lifestyle with a lot of walking and hot yoga. Having confidence in my ability was the most challenging thing: I thought I hated running and would never be good at it but I was proved wrong on both counts!

“In May 2015, a large group of us ran the Guildford Race for Life with Jane supporting us from the sidelines in a wheelchair and we raised an incredible £22,000, clearly demonstrating the amount of love there was for Jane and her family at that horrendous time. Jane died four days later. In the four months leading up to her being taken from us, she sent me supportive messages and urged me to keep on running on her behalf.