Friday 13 April 2012

My adventures at Thruxton, Goodwood and Silverstone.

I have recently joined Twitter (@VictoriaKYoung) in order to get the word out about my own personal challenge to run 1000km in 2012 to raise money for Child Bereavement Charity and Cancer Research UK. I am hoping others will retweet this in the aim of helping me to spread awareness.

I keep finding it hard to believe that so far this year I have run 4 laps of Goodwood, 4 laps of Thruxton and 3 laps of Silverstone. What thrills me even more is that soon I will be heading to Spa Francorchamps (2nd May) and the Nurburgring (1st September).


A little bit about the charities I am raising money for before I talk race tracks. Cancer Research UK is special to me as it's the charity that donations went to at my Grandfather's funeral. My Grampy Fred was a complete F1 addict, and I am proud to continue this tradition. At his funeral he had a Ferrari F1 car made out of flowers, to represent his favourite man - Michael Schumacher. He also had Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain', the memorable guitar solo used by BBC for F1 coverage.Thanks to the work Cancer Research UK my Grampy was given extra months in which to live due to amazing developments in drugs had a pain free and peaceful end to his life.

The Child Bereavement Charity supports families when a child has died or when a child is bereaved. When someone important to you dies it's often difficult to know where to turn and this charity offers a glimmer of light at the end of what can be a very dark tunnel. I am very proud to be the Youth Worker for this charity. Not only do I see them as so special that I put my heart and soul into working for them, but I also want to raise money for them so they can continue to do their amazing work. 

Now onto race tracks!! The huge open space of a racing track only means one thing. You are completely open to the elements.

Thruxton - My mental and physical strength was tested. Running up Woodham Hill in a 30mph headwind I have never sworn so much in my life.  But what an awesome little track it is. Fun doesn't seem the right word for it possibly immense would do it justice.

Goodwood - I encountered a -6oC Celsius drop in temperature while out on the track. Thanks to the rain I was already soaking wet. I ended up not being able to feel my hands and eventually most of my body, even though I was still running. I ran in a state of delirium. What was worse is that I was testing my mind to see if I was ok by doing times tables, but that was a bad idea because my maths is crap. I ended up shivering and shaking for a few hours after this run while trying to warm up.

Silverstone - Finally no extreme weather challenges faced me, apart from a bit of a headwind along Hangar Straight. The weather was gorgeous, the temperature was decent and the track was beautiful. They were so friendly at Silverstone too, just lovely! Thank you again to them and for tweeting about it at the time :-)
On pole position at Silverstone.....

You can view all photos from my runs via my Picasa Web album
https://picasaweb.google.com/112468248133374239060/Challenge1000VirginMoneyGiving?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I cant wait to update everyone on my Spa Francorchamps run. I hope all goes smoothly on my arrival at the track on 2nd May. It just seems so unreal that they have granted me access that I still cant quite believe that its happening. I will keep running for what I believe in, and I swear, when I am at Spa I will kneel down and kiss that gorgeous track!!!!! It is my absolute favourite, and I keep getting really infuriated when people say to me they have never heard of it! Arrrggghhhh! Things like that get my goat...like last year when DC was interviewing Sergio Perez at Silverstone and some silly English lady said on TV she didn't even know who he was. Come on people!!!!

Anyways, I am making a big hullabaloo by running in famous places that catch people's attention to raise as much money as I can. Just by sponsoring me with a little amount you are giving me mountains of support. So wether you are reading this through a Facebook, Twitter, Virginmoneygiving or GtPlanetForum please show your support. You can donate via my Virgin Money Giving page where there are many options to donate, including text donating. Thank you.

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