So, the day arrived - 24th September 2016.

Driving to the 22nd of Northern Ireland's 22 current parkruns (several new venues are in the pipeline) it was great to have both of our sons along for the morning, the first time we'd all been together on a Saturday morning for some time.

There was a big turnout from BT, over 30 work colleagues, with 9 running their first parkrun.

Through the week, rain was forecast for Saturday and, with parts of Northern Ireland experiencing stormy winds, I received several texts on Friday checking if all was ok to proceed.

On Friday night, Magda Bernatek, who I'd met at Stormont when we volunteered in March, messaged this motivating video - "Running in the Rain"

"So is it just a run in the rain?  You tell me."

While there was some drizzle as we arrived at Stormont, I was clear that, Nope, this was not just a run in the rain but, rather, a culmination of multiple threads running over different timescales.

First, and fundamentally, running Stormont represented the completion of my first objective:

"Run all 22 NI parkruns"

At Queens parkrun, I had met Linda Harley Gillespie, first woman to run all 22 NI parkruns.  That day, Linda showed me her hand-crafted #I'verunallthenornirnparkrunssoIhave T-shirt and promised to present me with my own at my final run.  True to her word, she did.  

Thanks to Linda for parkrunner insights, presence and encouragement along the way.

Second, there has been a relational aspect to this project that I never foresaw.  

Ruth and I did not cross this project's finish line alone.  Rather, through the planning & travelling & running & occasional injury & breakfasts & stories shared, we crossed the finish line, and cut the celebration cake, connected with a wider network of people than when we started.

Patricia McAuley and Heather Chestnutt have supported from beginning to end - we appreciate their presence, humour and stickability.

Third, getting to Stormont confirmed how far I've come in three years.  Laura Croan, whose interview on benefits of exercise for patients has had 2330 views to date, was one of the nursing team when I was ill in 2013.  In recent months, it's been great to work with Laura and others to promote awareness.  Three years ago, getting to this day would have been unimaginable and laughable.  But here we were.

(Links to all of the interviews are in this post containing the final interview, with Dr. Kyle Matchett)

Finally, 24 September 2016 was a milestone on a longer journey.  On 24 September 1984, I went into hospital with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  At that time, a great friend Roger Brown was studying medicine at Queen's University Belfast.  Roger 'showed up' for me and my family at that very difficult time - my dad was dying and I was ill.

Recently returned to Coleraine from Scotland he continues his GP work, and it's been great to reconnect.  As we walked up to the pre-run briefing, we swapped thoughts on years past and the run ahead.

Run Director Mel Boyle, giving the parkrun briefing, asked me to introduce #TimPageFitForLife.  Son Downey had asked me that morning "What are you going to say?"  I hadn't thought about it until then, but I was ready with a few (very few, as directed by Ruth!) words on my story and project progress.

Soon, we were running, and what a great set of people I got to run with - family, friends, colleagues and specific guidance from both my Fitness Trainer of 18 months, EXSTO's Michael McAuley, and Parkrun Jim himself.

I had run the course earlier in the week with Sarah Williamson, taking about 38 minutes.  It was good to have already navigated the bends, and to know to be careful under the trees where the odd twig might just be waiting to trip you up.

I was mindful of my Personal Best to date of 35:10 (Derry), although experienced runners Sarah Williamson & Mark Crothers had separately advised me to enjoy the day... there would be many other days to focus on time performance.  

My time at Stormont was 35:14 and, for whatever reason (hills?, drizzle?, emotion? - maybe all of the above) I found the 2nd lap of the course tougher than expected.

The encouragement from co-runners and cheers at the finish line were powerful stuff.  

And a big "Thank You" to the Stormont Hotel for kindly supplying tea and coffee on the day - much appreciated by runners and supporters.

I'd invited political representatives from across the spectrum to come along.  NI Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir ran and was then very encouraging during my last few hundred metres.  Active on social media, he tweeted a video at the finish.

Good friend David Robinson took some great photos of the day, strategically located at a choice spot with his high-tech camera.  I like this photo because it presents a backdrop wide enough to contain the different threads coming together in my head and heart, experiencing both personal challenge and stirring support at the same time.

One further reflection.  Over a year ago, I bumped into a nurse who had cared for me in (the long-since demolished) Ward 22 Haematology, Royal Victoria Hospital, during my mid-80's rough chemo days, before research sorted out effective anti-emetic drugs.  

She said:

"I remember you, Tim, in Ward 22 - there were 23 patients - everyone died, except you."

I have been pondering these words before, during and after my run at Stormont this 24th of September, 32 years of life later.

Yes, last Saturday was about more than "A run in the rain".

I suppose those things include

• Completing a project doing its bit to fight a <insert expletive> horrible disease
• Honouring people who have a habit of showing up for other people when the going gets tough
• Celebrating life, ever mindful that we are given the awesome freedom to make the most of that gift

The Stormont photo album is here , or here on Facebook.

So - what's next?

• Enjoy a late summer holiday - we're currently enjoying Vancouver, the best city in the world
• Write a few more blog posts re September's LLNI #ImStill launch and our BT Riverside DKMS Donor Drive
• Run two or three new NI parkruns before the project formally closes on 24-December
• Continue regular parkrunning & volunteering
• Run my first 10k
• Start conditioning prep for my next running challenge

Thank you for your interest and support.

The donation site for Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI remains open until 24-December 2016 - here.

Best thoughts,

Tim

Project Objectives

Tim's Running Progress

"In the future, we'll see a lot more of these re-purposed drugs coming into the clinic."

  ~ Dr. Kyle Matchett

This final #TimPageFitForLife interview is with Kyle Matchett.

Dr, Matchett's work as Research Fellow at the Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology at Queens University Belfast is funded by LLNI.

The QUB research portal gives details of Kyle's activities and his Twitter feed is here.

Thanks to Kyle for explaining his work on drug re-purposing and, once again, thank you to Joanne Badger on camera.

To support Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI's researchers' vital research, the BTmydonate site (0% commission) is here

In case you missed them, all of the earlier interviews are listed here: 

• Dr. Mary Drake, Consultant Haematologist - Overview of Blood Cancers
• Laura Croan, Clinical Nurse Specialist - Physical Fitness for Patients
• Mike McAuley, Fitness Trainer - Benefits of Physical Fitness
• Andy Magowan - Exsto Gym - Benefits of Sports Massage
• Prof. Ken Mills, Chair of Experimental Haematology, The Importance of Research

"Without your support we couldn't do our valuable research."

  ~ Professor Ken Mills

This fifth #TimPageFitForLife interview is with Ken Mills.

Professor Mills is Chair of Experimental Haematology with the Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology at Queens University Belfast.

The QUB research portal gives details of Professor Mills' activities, including a substantial list of research papers.

Thanks to Ken for making time for this interview and, also, to Joanne Badger on camera! 

In addition to leading research, Ken has kindly made time to support our fund- and awareness-raising work, including the Bake Sale and initial DKMS Donor Drive in BT Riverside Tower.  

If you would like to donate to LLNI, the BTmydonate site is here

In case you missed them, previous interviews were with

• Dr. Mary Drake, Consultant Haematologist - Overview of Blood Cancers
• Laura Croan, Clinical Nurse Specialist - Physical Fitness for Patients
• Mike McAuley, Fitness Trainer - Benefits of Physical Fitness
• Andy Magowan - Exsto Gym - Benefits of Sports Massage

The final interview will be posted shortly:

• Dr. Kyle Matchett - LLNI - repurposing of drugs

"We should be preparing our bodies for what life throws at you."

  ~ Mike McAuley

This third #TimPageFitForLife interview is with Michael McAuley.

Michael graduated from the University of Ulster in Sports Coaching.  A creative and effective entrepreneur, he is Owner of EXSTO Fitness & Fitness Trainer at EXSTO Gym.

Michael, Fitness Trainer to Ruth and myself for 18 months, talks about the 'massive' health benefits of fitness including the physical, mental, emotional and occupational aspects of our lives.

Michael sees one of his aims as to "try and just get people moving", citing the American Heart Association as one of thousands of resources available on the web.

Thank you to Michael for getting me moving.  After 18 months, I'm the strongest and fittest that I've ever been ... I can recommend him as a Fitness Trainer who can help prepare his clients for what life may throw at them.  Thanks also to Andy Magowan, cameraman for this interview, who's up next in our fourth interview.

If you would like to donate to LLNI, the BTmydonate site is here

In case you missed them, previous interviews were with

• Dr. Mary Drake, Consultant Haematologist - Overview of Blood Cancers
• Laura Croan, Clinical Nurse Specialist - Physical Fitness for Patients

Next week, a further three interviews will be posted:

• Andy Magowan - Exsto Gym - Benefits of sports massage
• Prof Ken Mills - LLNI - the importance of research
• Dr. Kyle Matchett - LLNI - repurposing of drugs

The second #TimPageFitForLife interview is with Laura Croan, Clinical Nurse Specialist for Lymphoma, based in Belfast City Hospital.

Laura's post is funded by Friends of the Cancer Centre, doing great work - caring for patients, providing various resources for the Cancer Centre and also funding research.

I received help from 'Friends' in 2008 & 2013.  Also, in 1985, during a month of radiotherapy at Belvoir Park Hospital, I recall the kindness of the "Friends of Montgomery House" volunteers.  The charity changed its name in 2006 when services moved to the Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital.

Here's a Belfast Live article on the occasion of Laura's appointment.

Laura speaks about the benefits of physical fitness for patients.  If the patient's condition permits, quality of life can be improved with potential benefits of increased muscle strength, energy, sleep & self-esteem - potentially resulting in less fatigue from both disease and treatment.

The academic papers that Laura mentions are listed here.

• Fatigue improved with exercise - "Effects of Supervised Multimodal Exercise Interventions on Cancer-Related Fatigue: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials"
• Benefits of exercise through treatment - "Precision Oncology Framework for Investigation of Exercise As Treatment for Cancer"
• 'Prehab' can help patient to tolerate treatment - "Cancer Prehabilitation An Opportunity to Decrease Treatment-Related Morbidity, Increase Cancer Treatment Options, and Improve Physical and Psychological Health Outcomes"
• Exercise after treatment can help with fatigue - "Randomized controlled trial of the effects of high intensity and low-to-moderate intensity exercise on physical fitness and fatigue in cancer survivors: results of the Resistance and Endurance exercise After ChemoTherapy (REACT) study"

Thanks to Laura for providing these references and also for being camerawoman during the interview with Dr. Drake.  And thank you to David Speers, BT Apprentice, for being cameraman for this interview.

If you would like to donate to LLNI, the BTmydonate site is here

In case you missed it, the previous interview with Dr. Mary Drake, Consultant Haematologist is here

In the next interview, to be published on Friday, Michael McAuley, Owner of Exsto Fitness & Personal Trainer discusses the many benefits of fitness for life.

Next week, the remaining interviews will be posted:

• Andy MaGowan - Exsto Gym - Benefits of sports massage
• Prof Ken Mills - LLNI - the importance of research
• Dr. Kyle Matchett - LLNI - repurposing of drugs

In this, the first #TimPageFitForLife video interview, I interview Dr. Mary Drake, Consultant Haematologist at Belfast City Hospital.

Dr. Drake explains the main types of blood cancer - leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma - and describes progress in treatment.

Dr. Drake speaks of the sense of community in Northern Ireland, and how local charities Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI & Friends of the Cancer Centre make a difference to her working life every day.

If you would like to donate to LLNI, the BTmydonate site is here

In the next interview, Laura Croan, Clinical Nurse Specialist for Lymphoma, explains the role of fitness for patients.

With only Stormont to go, Larne parkun may prove to be the day with the bluest sky - a glorious drive up from Holywood, and a great day for the first Larne 10k event.  I will aim to do this next year.

Chris McGonagle gets the prize for furthest-travelled supporter.  Chris, formerly a BT colleague, has been encouraging me from Austin USA for months.  Back home in Banbridge for a few days, Chris drove to Larne to run his first parkrun.  I really appreciated Chris' presence - it was good to swap notes on running, IT, recovery from injury and resilience.  We were pleased to meet up with Phil McIlwrath and Rosy Ryan so soon after Rosy's Lagan10k run last week for Pancreatic Cancer UK.  And great to see regular co-runner Heather Chestnutt again.

Dom Dorris, Run Director, gave a warm welcome to everyone, introducing Larne as one of the tougher parkruns.  I like quotes, and, talking about the hills at Carnfunnock Park, something Dom said rang true:

"The hills are your friend."

 ~ Dom Dorris

For me, this relates to another philosopher's quote which can be true.  Sometimes.

The run was certainly tough, at 44:01 one of my slowest.  I put this down to the repeated circuits up the hills... however, after the race, Dom explained that the heat of the day is not necessarily the runner's friend, and I can see this is true.  Photos from the day show a lot of perspiration on a lot of people!  Great to have BT colleagues Mark Crothers, Michael Fulton, John Kelly and Laurence O'Hagan running alongside. 

And so, at last, I got to meet Gillian Craig, regular runner at Larne parkrun.  Gillian has an enviable PB of 31:27, and her story, including aspects of living with cerebral palsy, was recently on the parkrun weekly newsletter.  Thanks to Gillian for encouragement and support.

"Because of parkrun, and in particular the volunteers at Larne parkrun, I don’t just watch sport from the sidelines anymore. I take part. And I don’t just cheer. I get cheered on. From my family and from the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank the parkrun community enough for your support and encouragement."

~ Gillian Craig

Many Larne volunteers had to leave on time for the Larne 10k, but Ruth was still able to secure a very upbeat photo!

After tea and biscuits in the Sea Cadets' Hall, we drove up the hill to the Parklands Cafe for coffee with Rosy & Phil and David & Fiona Robinson.  On a day as good as this, this was a great place to enjoy the view.

Larne photo album is here.

And now, one single parkrun remaining - Stormont on 24 September, the 32nd year to the day that, as BT Industrial Placement student, I went into Ward 22, Belfast Royal Victoria Hospital very ill with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Before then, it's a full week for #TimPageFitForLife:

Tuesday, in BT Riverside, there's a DKMS stem cell Donor Drive, hoping to reach our target of 100 prospective donors

On Friday, we attend the launch of LLNI's #ImStill campaign

And - keep an eye open for a series of six video interviews with people from the domains of medicine, fitness training and LLNI's research.

Come along to Stormont parkrunon the 24th if you can.

"The hills are your friend."

Tim

Project Objectives

Tim's Running Progress

"My feet are light, my legs are strong, I can keep this pace all day long!"
~ Rosy Ryan

At Waterworks - the 2nd of my 22 parkruns for Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI - I met Rosy Ryan.  Waterworks is a great open course. The day we were there, though, it rained a lot and I found it tough going.

Rosy ran with me that day and I deeply appreciated her encouraging mantra, even if I didn't have much spare breath to join in!

I spotted that Rosy was taking part in today's Laganside 10k organised by North Belfast Harriers; Ruth and I thought we'd go along to greet Rosy and Phil at the finish line.  Also with Rosy - Andrea Kearns from Pancreatic Cancer UK.

As we waited, it was great to see lots of people from NI's running community who we've met over the past 6 months. Northern Ireland really does have a great running community. It was also good to catch up with Matt Shields and parkrun news.

Rosy kindly agreed to a brief video interview.

Thanks to Rosy for encouragement and, really, inspiration - those words from Waterworks have often been in my head over these months.  A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is a tough enough road.

Rosy's JustGiving page is here.  Rosy mentions Jog Belfast - link here.

The forecast was 'heavy rain', so we headed to Ballymena as prepared as possible.  It seems the Ecos Centre is undergoing some renovation, but the surrounding parkland is absolutely worth a visit.

Ecos has a friendly set of volunteers, with a well-organised setting up in progress as we arrived - signage, road cones, sheltered area for tea/coffee and ample biscuits.  Run Director Alastair Donaghy gave everyone a warm welcome, 

Before the run, Peter Hamilton introduced himself - another runner who has already run Northern Ireland's 22 parkruns.  Peter had just run his 150th parkrun the previous week - congrats!  Ecos Ballymena is his favourite parkrun.

For Ecos, son Chris and fellow Corrymeela member David Mark ran with me.  It's another great parkrun course, organised as a two-loop figure-of-8.  The archway of trees at one stretch of the run was beautiful - sorry, didn't get a photo.

Ruth has been able to come along to all of the parkruns, except Limavady.  As everyone heads into the distance, Ruth generally takes the opportunity to capture something of each course's scenery before the runners return - like this photo of a wild flowers garden.

parkrun has various types of volunteer, including Guided Runners, who can run alongside people who are blind or visually impaired and their Guide Dog.  Before the run, we briefly met Torie Tennant and her Guide Dog.  Later, we finished the run close together.  Thanks to Torie for her encouragement and support.

Before leaving we got to speak with Susanna and Matthew Allen.  After encountering parkrun for the first time, Susanna thought the whole experience - running and sense of community - was so good that she worked with people to set up Ecos parkrun over four years ago.   

The Ecos sense of community was certainly alive and well on Saturday.  As Matthew said 

"The last person over the line gets as much support as the first person over the line."

And the running performance at Ecos was absolutely evidenced by the first person over the line.  Peter Avent, visiting from Edinburgh, smashed the Ecos record by 22 secs, down to 15:26.

Ecos photo album is here.

Two to go! ... Larne and, finally, Stormont 24-September.

Very best wishes,
Tim

Project Objectives

Tim's Running Progress