{"id":3842,"date":"2019-04-25T13:34:14","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T13:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=3842"},"modified":"2023-03-22T13:02:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T13:02:16","slug":"london-calling-dr-sara-jones-runs-for-teamcardiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2019\/04\/25\/london-calling-dr-sara-jones-runs-for-teamcardiff\/","title":{"rendered":"London calling: Dr Sara Jones runs for #TeamCardiff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 2016, almost 1,000 people have signed up to raise money for world-leading cancer, neuroscience and mental health research as part of #TeamCardiff.

Dr Sara Jones (PhD 2000) is one of them.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But, unlike her team-mates, she will not be lining up on Castle Street in early October. Instead, Sara will be sporting Cardiff colours through Canary Wharf, over Tower Bridge and down The Mall as the University\u2019s first London Marathon runner on Sunday 29 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We \u2013 just about \u2013 caught up with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sara, what does running for neuroscience and mental health research at Cardiff mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very close to my heart. My dad sadly passed away in\n2016 after suffering with dementia. He was a brilliant scientist and was also living\nwith Type 1 diabetes, but the battle with dementia was one he found hardest of\nall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, for the past 10 years I have been working for\nDECIPHer, a public health research facility involving Cardiff University. I\nknow that research into these challenging areas is essential if we are to bring\nabout real change and affect the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you get into running?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started about six years ago. I could barely run a\nkilometre – but slowly I increased my distance before a friend suggested I\nenter a 5k race and after that, a 10k. The next thing I knew, I was signed up\nto run the Cardiff Half Marathon. The rest is history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running also helped my mental health. When dad was living\nwith us, just going out for half an hour running and just clearing my head\nreally helped. I do always feel better for getting out and doing it. And by hopefully\nimproving the lives of others through fundraising for research, it\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever undertaken a full marathon before? How does the challenge differ mentally and physically to that of the Cardiff Half Marathon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t ever believe that I could run a marathon, but as\nsoon as I went over that 13.1 miles milestone in training I felt a lot more\nconfident. Now I\u2019m up to the full training distance, I believe I can do it. We\u2019ll\nsee on the day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are your race day preparations going?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had so much support from friends who have run marathons\nbefore. I found the training plan that worked for me: a 16 week plan running\nfour times a week consisting of two shorter runs on Tuesday and Thursday, a\n10-13k on a Wednesday and a long run on Saturday. That and power pump weights\non Monday. It\u2019s full on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started my training plan on 31st December and have\ncompletely stuck to it except for a brief cold resulting in me missing one of\nthe midweek shorter runs. I felt dreadful about it! The dog has quite enjoyed\nit as he can come with me, too. He\u2019s only a terrier so 10k is about his limit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I\u2019m motivated by the money raised for a good cause and fulfilling one of my items on my bucket list.”<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any training tips for aspiring marathon runners?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe in yourself. If I can do it, anyone can. I was never\nsporty at school and I just didn\u2019t ever see myself as a fit person. All you\nneed to do it is a Couch to 5k programme and, if you want to, then build on\nthat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I compare training for a marathon to doing a PhD \u2013 you\u2019ve\njust got to keep on at it. It\u2019s difficult if you lose motivation but it\u2019ll be\nworth it in the end. For the marathon, I\u2019m motivated by the money raised for a\ngood cause and fulfilling one of my items on my bucket list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, do you have any fundraising tips you\u2019ve learnt along the way?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reaching out to an extended network of friends of friends\nhas been fantastic \u2013 there has been generosity from lots of people who I didn\u2019t\nexpect to sponsor me (though my husband has yet to donate!). The neuroscience\nand mental health cause really resonates. I have had a few tears on some of the\nruns when I think about Dad and the important work we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also found that emailing people and companies has\nworked really well. I didn\u2019t realise that local shops and companies sometimes\nhave a small budget to support fundraising so they often donate items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you most looking forward to on the day \u2013 and most dreading? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019ll be an amazing weekend. I watch it every year on the TV\nso it will be so surreal running past so many famous London landmarks. A friend\nsaid it wasn\u2019t the finish line for them that was the most exciting, but it was\nwhen they ran across Tower Bridge which signifies half way. I\u2019ll also be\nrunning among countless celebrities \u2013 and with the elite, even if athletes such\nas Mo Farah will be running at twice my pace! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not yet sure how I\u2019ll celebrate crossing the finish line by Buckingham Palace. I have a lot of family coming to London to support me from across the country and the hotel we\u2019re staying at has a hot tub. Maybe I\u2019ll celebrate with a long soak! I know I\u2019ll be wearing the finishers t-shirt and medal for weeks after the race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can support Sara\nvia her Virgin Money Giving page<\/a>.\nYou can also follow Sara\u2019s progress on the day via the Virgin Money London\nMarathon App. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 2016, almost 1,000 people have signed up to raise money for world-leading cancer, neuroscience and mental health research as part of #TeamCardiff. Dr Sara Jones (PhD 2000) is one of them. ","protected":false},"author":904,"featured_media":3848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,4],"tags":[104,101],"class_list":["post-3842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiff-connect","category-news","tag-teamcardiff","tag-cardiff-half"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3842"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3918,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions\/3918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}