Hello, my name is Carol Bloomfield and I am the apprentice locksmith at Key Elements.



* WHY RUN?
I took part in the 'BUPA London 10,000' on May 26th 2008 to help raise awareness and funds for Diabetes UK. The reason I chose to raise money for Diabetes UK is because there are members of my family that are diabetic and I have seen the effect it has on their lives, I have done some research and the information I found out is shocking: people are discriminated against for having diabetes and also that 'diabetic foods' ( e.g. sugar free chocolate) are not much better for diabetics than the usual full sugar types. These urban legends need to be eradicated and with your help we have helped make a difference!.

* TRAINING:
I am well known for being clumsy and accident prone and since I signed up for this race last October I have been staggered at the amount of illness and injury I endured: 2 chest infections, sprained ankle, torn the ligaments in my legs at least 4 times, hurt my hamstrings a couple of times and I am sure that there are many more injuries but I could list them for hours!
So as you can imagine training for this run was gruelling! Instead of just concentrating on running I was also cycling and walking 5 miles before work in the morning 5 days a week, I also used weights on my legs to try and strengthen the muscles and sit ups are another side to the training I was doing - I would have started swimming but then I might have drowned myself and that would really have messed things up!

* HOPE TO RAISE:
I was hoping to raise awareness and some much needed funds for Diabetes UK, my aim was for £300 and I managed to raise £533 with a lot of people's help and generosity. I considered putting a wager on whether I was alive at the end of training.

* THE DAY OF THE RACE:
I woke up the day of the race to find it absolutely chucking it down, I wanted cool weather but this was ridiculous! I travelled to Green Park station with Jason to cheer me on, give me moral support and more importantly hold the umbrella and my bag containing loads of junk food to help me recover from the race!!!
When the time came to go into the runners area (still chucking down!!!) I had to brave the elements (not key elements Doh!!)and the other runners by myself - needless to say it was a little bit scary. The park was muddy, there were loads of people in rubbish bags to keep dry - while this may be a good idea I like to think of myself as a bit more fashionable that i will not have to resort to wearing bin bags.

* THE RACE:

We all had to line up according to the colours on our running numbers -red was for the fast runners, blue was for the average runners and green was for the slower runners, I was in the blue running start lane. A couple of minutes after 10am the people with the blue numbers started and not a moment too soon- I was soaked before I started. Running around London was cool, didn't check out the scenery though was too busy watching out for the other nutters.... people running on the pavement and then cutting back into the road to run with the rest of us. People coming to a quick stop with no warning etc etc. The roads were flooded - someone should tell Westminster council to unblock the drains because in some places the whole road was covered... very yucky. I managed to reach 6km before I hurt myself (not a bad achievement!!!), my ankle didn't feel too clever but I carried on running through the pain and the only other time that I hurt myself was when I was 400m from the end and my legs started bleeding, my shorts rubbed some sores where they were soaked and boy did they hurt! The photo I have got shows my agony and discomfort!

* AFTER THE RACE:

I was really pleased with my finishing time which was 1 hr 2mins. After the race I received a goody bag containg a t shirt and a medal and some other goodies from various companies. All I was interested in however was changing into some warm, dry clothes and heading down to Mcdonalds where a 6 piece nugget meal with large fries, large chocolate milkshake and a huge muffin was waiting for me... that's the kind've refuelling afteer a race I like - no namby pamby fruit juice!
Once I completed the race and headed back to work the next day I was amazed at the generosity of people who helped me smash my target of £300 to the £533 I have raised for Diabetes UK.

Thanks for your support but it's not over yet.....
I have already signed up for next years race, again raising funds for Diabetes UK, although I am hoping for some better weather than this year!
So folks, next year I have got 2 new targets:
* complete the race in a faster time than this year
* raise even more money than I did this year

I know with your support and generosity we can do it

Many Thanks
Carol and Team Elements