Geologist hits midway mark of 30-marathons-for-30-charities-before-30 problem
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geologist taking over 30 marathons for 30 charities earlier than her thirtieth birthday has reached the midway level of the inspiring and “slightly crazy” feat.
Lucinda Layfield, who splits her time between London and Aberdeen, did her first marathon on January 1 for Alcohol Change UK, with the final one to happen on November 26 – the day of her thirtieth birthday.
On finishing her fifteenth marathon for the LGBT Foundation on June 20, the 29-year-old informed the PA news company: “It doesn’t feel that far to go now.”
“I have gained confidence and belief in myself”, she added.
“Often I think it’s quite tricky and most of us can relate to having imposter syndrome, but when you take the time to reflect, you think, I have done well and I know I’m going to get there.”
Ms Layfield has balanced the working problem alongside her full-time job as a geologist for an vitality firm and finding out for a PhD on the geology of the realm between the Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands.
The concept behind the marathons endeavour was sparked midway by means of final yr.
“I thought, what can I do for my 30th birthday to remember this milestone in my life?” Ms Layfield mentioned.
“I wanted to do something that would potentially be good for other people and could inspire them and also bring together lots of different charities within one event.”
Ms Layfield has tried to run every marathon on a day which is linked to the charity she is elevating cash for, which frequently includes meticulous planning and making a calendar of occasions.
“I researched when Red Nose Day was, Armed Forces Day, Pride and I thought, OK, why don’t I just run on these days or as close as I possibly can”, she mentioned.
“I ended up emailing lots of different charities, telling them what I was doing and asking them if they could send me a T-shirt.
“Some of the charities’ focuses are relevant to me – I did a 100km ultra-marathon from London to Brighton – [which was the equivalent of a little over two marathons] – to support Action Aid and The National Association for Premenstrual Syndromes (NAPS) in aid of Menstrual Hygiene Day because I’ve suffered with premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
“Other charities are relevant to family and friends and others are charities that I thought were fantastic.”
The Leeds Marathon (marathon 12), which raised cash for Mind, was chosen as her favorite, since she is initially from Leeds.
“I basically ran the marathon around my home town where I grew up and the atmosphere was amazing,” she mentioned.
“That was the marathon where Kevin Sinfield carried Rob Burrow over the finish line and it was extremely emotional and my friends and family came up to see me.
“I also actually saw some old school friends lined up, cheering me on, so that was a real highlight.”
She additionally “pounded the pavements” and even some water whereas on vacation in Chile for considered one of her runs.
“I ended up trying to run through huge areas of river, so I had very wet feet for parts of it and that was for a Ukrainian charity at a time which marked one year since Russia invaded Ukraine.”
She added that almost all of her coaching occurred final yr, which might contain lengthy runs, typically on weekends, and working on the treadmill and doing higher physique exercises on the health club.
With donations near the 25% mark – having raised over £7,000 out of the £30,000 goal – Ms Layfield has mirrored on how “absolutely incredible” it has been to have obtained a lot assist.
“There is a cost-of-living crisis going on and I find it amazing that people have donated money, even though they may have very little money themselves”, she mentioned.
“I get quite emotional thinking about it to be honest and I’ve had messages from running groups over England asking me to join their running group for a run.
“So many have reached out saying, ‘can we share your story?’ and my work has also been really supportive, as well as my partner Jamie who gives up lots of time to be there with me for the runs and throughout the whole process.”
She added: “There are probably some who may think the idea is slightly crazy or I am having a quarter-life crisis, but that’s fine as I’m raising money for charity and awareness for their work.”
As Ms Layfield dons her trainers to tackle her sixteenth marathon over the weekend in Scotland for SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity, she mentioned she is most trying ahead to “running in cooler temperatures”.
“I sound like a typical British person whinging about the weather,” she joked.
“My step-mum works for SSAFA and I see the absolutely incredible work they do for our veterans, and I’m looking forward to digging deep and seeing what I have in the tank.”
Ms Layfield’s JustGiving web page might be discovered right here, with cash raised to be break up between the totally different charities: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/30for30before-30