Jenny Bitsios

Date:

Dec 2010

Fundraising challenge:

Athens Marathon 2010.

How much did you raise:

£1,091

What motivated you to do this challenge?:

This year was the 2500th anniversary of the original marathon and seeing as I live in Athens, wanted to be able to say that I’d run a marathon at least once in my life and have always been an amateur jogger I decided this had to be the year... The aim was simply to cross the finishing line as a challenge to myself, not to go for any records! I finished the marathon within 3 mins of the secret time I’d set myself and with a real sense of achievement. It was relatively painless, made for an eventful and highly sociable day that I will look back on with pride, and at the age of 48 I can honestly say I’ve never felt better about my own body- the training has got me back into even better shape than I was in before I had my kids.

Why did you choose to raise money for War Child?:

The longest distance I ran in training was about 26 km in Richmond Park during a trip to the UK, and it was then that I decided to organise sponsorship. It was early October but like a summer’s day and everyone was outside enjoying themselves. I’d just read Ishmael Beah’s book “A Long Way Gone” about child soldiers and it struck me how lucky I was being able to do what I was doing “just for fun”, unlike them.