My jogscotland pals helped me through the tough times

By Gillian McDonald of JogPeebles

There was snow on the ground the first time I turned up to a Couch to 5K group with JogPeebles in January 2011, and I must admit, I thought everyone was daft! But I quickly got hit by the bug of challenges, adventure and achievement, and since then I have found that running offers a valuable escape from the challenge of having twin boys with Fragile X Syndrome. Fragile X is the most common known cause of inherited learning disability, yet so often goes undiagnosed due to lack of awareness.

My sons have Fragile X - they're proud of my fundraising!

Despite that snowy first week, I stuck with it, and by the end of the 10 weeks I’d been persuaded by two other group members to do a sponsored run, to raise funds for the local Scout hall. So from managing to run 5K one week, it was onto The Mighty Deerstalker a few weeks later - oh how naive was I?! I had never heard of it, and discovered it was five miles, up hills, in fancy dress, wading through the River Tweed and going through a tunnel where the water was waist high. I do remember swearing a lot, but we did it!

After a particularly challenging year, at the end of 2012 it felt like the wheels all fell off my life. I found myself signed off work for three months, feeling afraid to answer the phone or go out of the house. But the ladies from JogPeebles were so supportive. They ensured I got out for daily walks/runs, made it a safe space to talk when I felt like it and were happy to leave me when I didn’t. I am so grateful and appreciative of their support. The experience also raised my awareness of mental health - it is nothing to be ashamed of, we can all have issues at some point in our lives but we can also recover and become stronger.

In 2016, I started on an A-Z challenge of half marathons. Then I secured a charity place for the 2018 London Marathon, which brought with it the challenge of raising £5000 for The Fragile X Society. JogPeebles and my family were right behind me, with fundraising events from ceilidhs to coffee mornings. JogPeebles also supported me with my training, accompanying me for parts of my long runs. I was dumbstruck when two of my fellow joggers appeared in London to support me there, too.

I loved it so much that I immediately applied for a ballot place the following year. Surprise, surprise I got in. There was no pressure of fundraising, but it was too good an opportunity to raise awareness of Fragile X, as well as much-needed funds for the charity. Over the two years, the amount raised was over £20,000.

In 2020, the plan was to try complete the remaining six half marathons of my A-Z challenge. Then Covid hit, and all my travel plans to places like Nice, Yeovil, Uttoxeter and Vegas were cancelled.

However, as I write this, I have completed 790 days of running at least 5K every day. This is such a tonic for my mental health. It gives me space to think, and running every day has just become part of my daily routine - I would never have thought it back at the start. Sometimes it’s hard and I’ll admit that don’t always enjoy it! But I just hold onto how it makes me feel afterwards and that makes it worthwhile.

My jogscotland pals are always up for a laugh