Amazing athlete Annette Flaherty is marking her 50th birthday with a memorable and generous challenge – running 50 miles for 50 weeks throughout her special year to raise funds for her two chosen charities.
The Clarkston resident celebrated her special milestone on Thursday, and continued with her daily routine of getting her running shoes on to add to her total distance; currently standing at nearly 1800 miles, equivalent to 68 marathons.
She is now in week 34 of her epic “half a hunner runner” endurance challenge and is aiming to raise £5000 to be shared between St Andrew’s Hospice and neurological research charity Funding Neuro, after doubling her original target.
Her efforts have seen her racking up the miles both at home and abroad, take part in a charity event, amass a dedicated social media following for her musical progress updates and even fall foul of an encounter with a four-legged friend.
Annette told the Advertiser: “My friend was asking what I was going to do for my birthday; at first I said I’d do 50 different things but then said, ‘I’ll run 50 miles a week for 50 weeks’.
“I don’t know why, as I’d never done more than 30 miles in one week before this. I just blurted it out on a whim – but then I knew I was going to do it.
“My mind boggles when I think that I’ve run 1786 miles since January and when I look and see how far I’ve come.”
She added: “I’ve had an issue with my left hamstring and glute so I’ve been running in pain since week three; I’ve had a lot of support with donated physio and massage sessions to keep me going throughout the year.
“Each day I run for around 90 minutes and that’s allowed me to reach the target each week; I mostly run in Airdrie and in Wishaw while my daughters are at swimming.
“It’s a big commitment as my regime also includes yoga and stretching as well as the run, and I have my husband Tom, daughters Heather and Hayley, three dogs, working full-time and everything else in daily life!
“Everybody thinks I’m mad but all my family and friends are 100 per cent behind me; and this week I’m planning to run with pupils at Clarkston Primary.
“So far I’ve been averaging 55 miles – I want to run 52.4 miles per week so that I’ve covered 100 marathons.”
Having successfully clocked up her first 50 miles from New Year’s Day, Annette began publicising her challenge and providing unique social media progress updates.
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She said: “The Proclaimers gave me permission to use their song 500 Miles and I changed the words to be about my progress; and I did a video with I’m So Excited when I got to the halfway stage.
“One of the highlights so far was running the Carluke 10k course with the charity Japes, who have a Joelette which allows people in wheelchairs to participate in running events.
“This month I was delivering leaflets about my challenge and a dog bit my finger through a letterbox, so I ended up going for a tetanus injection the next day – while on the way to the airport to go on holiday. It just shows no challenge is easy!”
Annette said of her chosen good causes: “The hospice is Airdrie’s major charity; when each of my parents passed away, we were offered the hospice’s care and support and really appreciated that it was there if needed.
“We know other people who have used the hospice and what they do is amazing. They need to raise £88,000 per week for their work and I wanted to support them.
“Funding Neuro was founded by Bryn Williams, who runs the company I work for; it raises funds for pioneering research into things like Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease and neurological conditions in children.”
Annette’s fundraising page is at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AnnetteFlaherty
