Clare
Back in June when Rachael asked me if I would be interested in taking part in a fundraising challenge to raise money for Behcet’s UK, after she had seen a post I put on Facebook, about the first time I had been out on the road on my handcycle, since lockdown restrictions had been lowered, for vulnerable people who were shielding, due to the Covid pandemic.
It didn’t take me long to think about it, before saying “YES”.
BRING ON A CHALLENGE
A few ideas were bounced back and forth, before it was decided that the challenge would be to cycle, run or walk the distance between the 3 Behcet’s Centres of Excellence, so from London via Birmingham to Liverpool, which is roughly 226miles. It was also decided that the challenge would run over 13 weeks, so we could break the weekly miles down into manageable chunks, but still be challenging.
I must stress that it is Rachael who deserves all the credit, for setting the Bike for Behcet’s, Run for the Rare challenge up and being so supportive throughout the challenge.
At the end of last year after attending a 2 day Help for Heroes Handcycle and Recumbent bike training camp at the Stoke Manderville Stadium, I was lucky enough to be gifted a Handcycle by a fellow Army Veteran, who was originally gifted the handcycle by Help for Heroes, following having his right leg amputated above the knee, but didn’t get on with it. The handcycle had just been sat in his garage collecting dust and still had the protective film on the frame, so was practically like new.
Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown period and following government guidelines to shield, I had been keeping myself fit, by using the Handcycle out in my garden set up on a training roller, because I wasn’t able to go to the gym as usual. Initially I was doing 15-20kilometres (9-12 miles) on the bike, 3 times a week. When I was making plans to work out how many miles I would need to cover each week, in order to complete the challenge, I decided I would double the 226miles to make my personal challenge to handcycle 452miles and make the challenge harder. At the beginning of September, I completed my personal 452mile target, which felt awesome. Because we were doing the challenge as a team, I decided to keep the miles adding up and set a new target to cover 678miles (3 times the original target miles).
Being part of team Bike for Behcet’s, Run for the Rare has been an amazing experience, not only has it kept me motivated to exercise, but it has also had a positive impact on my mental health as well. I suffer with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) which relates to active service during the Kosovo conflict, my main and most troublesome symptoms are recurring nightmares and flashbacks, adding that to the pain I experience in my lower back and legs because of Behcet’s, my sleep more often than not disrupted. Being able to train on my handcycle in the safe environment of my garden, gave me the incentive to get up early and use the time to block out what is going on in the in the world and focus on the here and now. As a team and even though most of us have never met in person, we have encouraged each other along the way and praised each other for our triumphs via social media platforms, which has made the challenge that extra bit special. The real icing on top of the cake has been in the friendships I have formed with fellow teammates, who know what it is like living with Behcet’s AND of course absolutely smashing our original team target of raising £2,000 for Behcet’s UK.
WELL DONE
TEAM BIKE FOR BEHCET’S, RUN FOR THE RARE
every single one of you are AWESOME, FANTASTIC, AMAZING, BRILLIANT & REMARKABLE
