The Glasgow Kiltwalk for Action Duchenne
Written by Sarah Kelly
Last month my partner Paul and I took part in the Glasgow Kiltwalk to raise money for Action Duchenne. My little brother Jonathan has DMD, a couple of friends of ours were discussing doing the Kiltwalk and Paul had decided that he was going to take part for Action Duchenne. I gave it some consideration myself as I had done an even longer walk years previously and being on a personal weight loss journey I thought why not, this will be good as it will help me to get fitter and lose weight whilst raising money myself for your amazing organisation.
Starting training
Within the next week, the Just Giving page was made and we started training. I need to use the term “training” loosely although we did try. We trained by doing a series of smaller walks, such as an 8 mile one. But the amount of training we did was not enough for tackling a 23-mile walk. Additionally, we had a busy social life in March and April. So, the training was only really in February and March. Then we had a month’s gap before the actual walk so we ended up arriving at the walk on 27th April having done hardly any training.
The day before the walk I felt sick with nerves. I thought “what on earth was I thinking, why have I agreed to do this.” In short I was completely dreading it but we had raised so much money that I thought:
“We need to go ahead.”
The event
We got started at 0945 am with three of our friends that were joining fundraising for their own unique charities. There was a deep sense of excitement at the start as everyone was in it for the same reason, to raise funds for a variety of amazing charities. It was all going well until mile 4 for me where I realised that I was exhausted and my feet were in agony. I thought “19 more miles, I don’t think that this is going to be physically possible”. The signs that said “19 miles to go” became more threatening than welcoming.
By about 8 miles in, I realised I had a blister on my foot despite me putting on “preventative blister plasters”. It was complete agony to walk on and the same happened to the other foot a few miles later. By this point I was waddling along. The temptation to stop and sit down for a minute or too was extraordinarily strong and I did it a few times but then it became harder and harder to start again so I decided I had to keep walking.
It was then that I realised that those with Duchenne cannot walk. It made me think,
“I am so lucky that I can walk and I need to keep going and raise money to help them.”
At this point too I banged into some people that were walking for Muscular Dystrophy UK, this was a massive source of encouragement to me and I felt that we really encouraged each other, I shared stories about my brother and the lady I met was telling me about her baby that had been diagnosed. I felt this gave us both the push we needed to keep going.
At around 17 miles in, there was a huge temptation to stop again, I was in agony to the point of tears. My legs had swollen up enormously, I could hardly weight bear on my blisters and I thought “I really don’t feel well.” My lift home at that point had called to ask how much longer I would be and they could tell I was really struggling. Worried about me even they said I should stop but I thought:
“Let’s keep going till at least the next comfort stop.”
Nearly there
We reached the last comfort stop and at this point we realised that we had less than 2 miles to go so giving up wasn’t even an option. I had to make everyone that had supported me and donated to me proud. I had to do this for my brother Jonny and all the boys like him that suffer from DMD.
When we got to the one-mile left mark I cheered. Although in physical agony and mental exhaustion by this point, I knew I needed to do it. The last mile was the easiest mile in about 10 miles as there was this urge to keep going as fast as possible as the faster, we went the quicker it would be over and the promise of a cold drink and a sit down was great motivation.
Crossing the finish line was a huge achievement. Paul, his friend, and I crossed the finish line together and were instantly so relieved.
At this point, the magnitude of the amount we had managed to raise and the 23 miles that we had walked really sank in and I was absolutely delighted at our achievement.
I hope that the £1700 we raised helps as much as possible with bettering the lives of those with DMD and searching for a cure.
Sarah Kelly
What can YOU do?
Could you be part of changing the future for everyone living with Duchenne? We need YOU so that we can continue our much-needed work. There are so many ways you can get involved and we will support you all the way!
