Helen's Big Half Blog

At the beginning of September, fourteen staff and friends of Coin Street took on the Big Half to raise money for Youth Night. It was a big challenge for many of those involved with some never having run before, let alone completed a half-marathon. You can read here about what inspired Richard here and Caroline here.

This week, Helen explained the motivations behind her decision to sign up for the Big Half, and the interesting encounter she experienced.

Helen:

My mum was always busy but never so much as ran for a bus as far as I recall, so the association might end there but she has been on my mind a lot lately.  She would also say: ‘there was a 50:50 chance of your life’… I was born prematurely, and this portentous statement rather set me up to feel that, since I had been lucky enough to make it, then I owe it to the universe to try and make a difference with the life given me.  Coin Street certainly has the potential to give me that opportunity.

A couple of weeks back I had the privilege of running for Coin Street in the Big Half, a community half marathon from Tower Bridge to Greenwich on an insanely hot Sunday with a mixture of colleagues and supporters of Coin Street, determined to raise funds to towards our Youth night.

Youth night is on every Thursday, offering a safe and inclusive space for 8–16-year-olds to have fun, make friends and be themselves.  

While there is a significant lobby calling on the new government to invest in youth services, it has some catching up to do with local authority spending in youth centres having been cut by 77% in the last decade or so, not to mention there being a ton of other competing priorities; we want to expand and develop the successful programme we have established and do it now so we can impact the lives of today’s young people.

We were an eclectic mix of staff and supporters – those running the distance for the first time and others, so experienced that 13.1 miles was like popping out on a Sunday for a pint of milk.  But it didn’t matter we were a team united under Leila’s stewardship. 

As Coin Street’s Fundraising Lead, she was keen to flex the organisations collective fundraising muscles and develop that culture to align with her work; she did a great job, creating a really supportive group which has been inspiring and affirming, encouraging us through our training during the summer. 

The event buzzed end to end with community spirit and buoyed by that I made it through the first 3 miles.  My own support team were at mile 4 and I hit my daughters sign urging me to ‘power up’ Mario style.  Coin Street’s lovely cheer squad were a sight for sore eyes at mile 6, really going the extra mile by getting up and at ‘em on a Sunday to just cheer us on for a good cause.  

Mile 7 my family again for a final boost as I came over the iconic Tower Bridge and then the home stretch.  Complete strangers just cheering everyone on.  

I reached mile 8 and I noticed a supporter by the road I recognised… it took a while to compute – that’s Sadiq Khan I said to myself, just standing on the roadside supporting everyone who went by.   I kept going and then thought, I can’t miss this opportunity – I turned round and started to run back – I tapped London’s Mayor on the shoulder – can I get a selfie I said, ‘Sure’ he said, ‘I’m running for Coin Street’ I said.   ‘I love Coin Street’ he said.  Mic drop … my work here is done. 

I was so chuffed - it kept me going the rest of the way, with a story to dine out on for a while.

As a little girl my mum used to live right where the Cutty Sark and the Big Half finish line was, and as I reached the end, I thought about her - I might be on the right track to do her proud.  

We have raised £4,745 for youth night, exceeding our target but it’s not too late to donate – who knows, we could even hit the £5,000 mark! 

I’m running the Vitality 10k this Sunday – this one starts and ends in St James’s Park - who knows what dignitaries I might get a selfie with this time - I think I’ll wear the Coin Street vest - wish me luck…