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Barry is vlogging his way to a marathon success.
47 year old delivery driver Barry from Edinburgh has taken on the challenge of the Edinburgh Marathon for Alzheimer Scotland. He shares his story with us.
“I first took up running in 2014. I’d been having a pretty bad year with some personal issues and a diagnosis of skin cancer. It was one of those years when you feel like it’s just one bad thing after another. It was my wife Kerry who made the suggestion and we signed up to do our first 5k as something positive for me to focus on.
“At the time we’d been married 14 years and I have to admit that we weren’t the healthiest. We’d given up smoking in 2010, but it was still really hard going. That first time we attempted a run together we thought we were going to die! But we kept at it and we managed that first 5k and raised £1,500 for Cancer Research UK and we’ve never looked back. Since then I’ve progressed to 10ks and half marathons but this will be my first full marathon.
“I decided to do the marathon for Alzheimer Scotland for a few reasons. Probably the biggest reason is that I am friends with Andrew who works in the fundraising team and he twisted my arm a bit! Also, the Alzheimer Scotland head office is on my delivery route so I am quite often in the building and see a bit of what they do.
“I also have some personal experience through my wife’s family. Her gran had dementia and it was really difficult to see how it affected her and the wider family. I’d always had a really good relationship with my grandmother-in-law but dementia changed her and she would often become distressed and agitated. It was really hard to see. My wife Kerry was really upset to see her gran like that, behaving totally out of character. I really feel for other families going through that so I’m proud to be doing something to help.
“I have a bit of background DJ-ing on Black Diamond FM, a community radio station in Midlothian, and I thought doing a video blog would be fun to document my marathon training. It’s a good way to keep friends, family and colleagues in the loop with progress in training and fundraising and that helps to bring in the donations.
“It’s been a bit of a slow start to my training – I had a bit of a nasty viral infection which was affecting my breathing but I’m back on track now. I do a bit of kick-boxing and a do keep up the running outside of training for events so my fitness is pretty good, but it will still take a fair bit to get me to marathon standard in time for the EFM at the end of May. It will also be a bit of a difficult run because my favourite band Erasure are playing the night before in Glasgow, and there’s no way I’m going to miss that so I might be a bit tired for the marathon the next day!”
Follow Barry’s progress on YouTube and you can sponsor Barry on JustGiving.
If you want to take part in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival alongside Barry, there are still place on the 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon. Find out how to secure your place.
If you’re training to take part in a sponsored event for Alzheimer Scotland, join the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #TeamAlzScot