Inspiring runners - Katie Lambourne
Another Strava friend Ian Collier had introduced her. I’ve met many great people on there and many of those I have never met face to face. Occasionally I bump into someone at a race and we realise we follow one another online. I love the community it provides for like-minded people.
Over time I have followed Katie’s progress and given her Kudos (the Strava thumbs up). I realised she was managing to balance her running with looking after three children and saw how she regularly posted improving times and distances.
It was following a recent Strava post that I decided to get in touch and ask her story.
The title of her run was ‘Day 1 of my charity miles.’ This was followed by ’19.79 miles so far for Aarskog syndrome.’ I had never heard of Aarskog syndrome so I Googled it. You should too.
I spoke to Katie and asked her how she started running. She explained that she had recently come out of a damaging and abusive relationship and a friend recommended running to do something for herself.
In December last year she did her first run and enjoyed the way it cleared her head and allowed her a break from life’s stresses and busyness. She continued to run for three months before spraining her ankle and having to stop.
This was a difficult not only because it stopped her running but she was trying to look after three children while being unable to walk! However, it revealed to her just how much running was helping her mental health.
As soon as she had recovered, she began to run again. Unfortunately, during that time Coronavirus had led to a shutdown of all running clubs and events. Despite having to run alone she persevered. She ran further and quicker and managed a half marathon distance.
Katie inherited Aarskog syndrome. It carries through the female line and affects males. There is a 50% chance that a baby boy will have it if their mother is a carrier. Katie’s son was born with the syndrome and her whole family has been impacted by it in different ways.
Her sister often raised money to help those affected. She suggested that Katie could use her running to raise both money and awareness. Hence the Strava posts I had seen.
Katie decided to run as many miles as she could in one week. By the end of that week she had run 49 miles and raised £170 as well as helping people like myself to hear about Aarskog syndrome.
I admire her decision to use her running to serve a cause close to her, and I am inspired by the way she has developed her running from scratch without any support. Her self-motivation is impressive, even more so given she was side-lined for so long with an injury.
Katie looks forward to attending parkrun and joining a local running club. She is excited and nervous about entering events and has all that to look forward to. Her future plans include raising money for Autism charities as her son is on the spectrum, and for domestic abuse work to help others who have suffered as she has.
You can still donate to her Aarskog run by going to this page.
