I spent 2020 in a battle with the UK Home Office to get my husband across the border. Running helped me to fight the darkness and despair of this journey.
I spent 2021 running monthly challenges in support of The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
In this post I reflect on the running challenges and the highlights of the fundraiser.
Fundraiser highlights
Reaching our goal
At first I was going to fundraise on the side of a marathon that was postponed from May 2020 till September 2020. I started fundraising for causes I care about in 2017 to add value to my running. Running is something I started in 1980 when I was 8 years old. I cannot not run. Making myself heard about an issue in society is a whole other story though!
The marathon was postponed again and somehow that triggered me to commit to the issue of migrants’ rights on a different level. I wanted my running to somehow reflect the reality of a denied family visa that tears a family apart. The challenge only ends when the family is reunited. The general public is largely ignorant of the potential cost and the duration of this journey. It is inhumane and traumatising to subject family units to longterm separation by means of bewildering burocracy.
This is why I set the fundraising goal of £12 700. This is what families have to pay for a non-British spouse to go through the UK immigration system, from the first visa application, to British citizenship, with legal fees.
It was too big a goal just for me… which led to the biggest highlight of the fundraiser!
Teaming up with Lauren
Lauren posted an outstanding thread on Twitter in October 2020. It was titled: ‘The UK Immigration system needs to stop hurting people.’ She also published this as a blog on her site on medium.
I reached out to her and we became a running and fundraising team. Lauren was super helpful and generous with her content designer skills. The success of a running fundraiser depends more on how one articulates and shares than on the actual running! At the start of 2020 I was new to Twitter and at the start of 2021 I was new to blogging. I did not even know how to make a hyperlink!
Lauren allowed me to use her blogs to guide structuring my own blogs. Thank you Lauren!
Over the course of the year we have also become friends. It was marvellous to see Lauren complete her first marathon in 2021 and I am excited to watch her running journey unfold.
Not only did Lauren run and blog about her running, she also wrote monthly blogs about how the UK immigration system hurts people. These monthly blogs are a summary of all the news articles about UK immigration of that month.
You can read Lauren’s blogs at:
laurunning.blogspot.com and ltormey.medium.com
The amazing team at JCWI
I cannot imagine a better fundraising experience than what we had with JCWI. Thank you to Mary, Ruth and the rest of the team at JCWI.
Mary always had an open mind to my ideas and saw one of them take off and fly! It was the #HaveAHeart campaign of February 2020 in conjunction with the lovely folk at Reunite Families UK.
I am so grateful to Mary for making me feel heard. At the start of the fundraiser I was still pretty bruised from the trauma of the immigration experience. I will never forget Mary’s kindness and her passion for seeing a fairer system for cross-border families. Mary’s encouragement was instrumental in enabling me to tell my story and stay the course.
After the February challenge, Ruth picked up with Lauren and me and supported our efforts throughout the year.
JCWI organised a People Move Challenge for September 2021. They involved us in the conversation that helped shape the challenge. Lauren hosted an online storyboard with JCWI that I took part in.
The money raised through this collective effort, took our fundraiser past its goal. Thank you JCWI and thank you People Move people.
The key words for what it will take to bring the much needed systemic change is ‘collective effort’. Many skills and much perseverance are needed. Most importantly, those who are affected must speak up and be supportive of each other. From my perspective, the team at JCWI are experts in making this happen!
Getting to know more about JCWI’s work
I learnt masses from attending their online events. Here are links to just a few:
Leah Cowan and Minnie Rahman in conversation
Climate Justice is Migrant Justice
What you need to know about undocumented migrants in the UK (this is just a short clip, I could not find the webinar online)
Work it Out – Protecting migrant workers’ rights
JCWI is an extraordinary charity and an important voice in our society for justice, equality and human rights.
A year of running challenges for JCWI
The challenges I did each month were:
- Trail half marathons – January 2021
I ran five half marathons in January. - The Heart of Gower
This was my heart for the Valentine’s day #HaveAHeart campaign. - Discovering Hidden Gower, hiding from a Gale – Ultra Marathon
- What can I learn from my running injuries? A challenge for April 2021
- Running Streak: A challenge for Every Day… amongst others
- Mountain Running in Wales: Training for Dragon’s Back Race (part 1)
- Training for Dragon’s Back Race (part 2): Mountain Running in Wales
- Countdown to Dragon’s Back Race: Reflections and final preparations
- Dragon’s Back Race: an epic journey to beyond your limits
- Underestimate Park Run at your Peril!
- Endurance Life Gower Marathon: Pain and Laughter at the back
- Slow down, sleep more, eat more – a runner’s December challenge
Choosing the top 3 – a challenge in itself!
Variety is the spice of life!
common idiom
My favourite challenge was the requirement for creativity when I couldn’t really challenge myself with running. I had to learn to challenge myself with recovery from running.
The year of challenges helped me to discover my absolute favourite genre of running challenge. You guessed it: the multi-day ultra marathon!
September: Montane Dragon’s Back Race
This race, an epic coast to coast, castle to castle journey across spectacular mountains, captured my imagination.
I did not know if I could complete it, but I was going to give it my best shot! It shaped the way my running journey unfolded throughout 2021. On the way to the start line I learnt new skills and made new friends. On the way to the finish line I made more friends as I became part of the ultra running community.
Even though I failed to complete the race this year, I failed forward. I took myself to my edge and then some more. It took 247 km and 12 900 metres elevation gain. Now I have an appetite to keep exploring and pushing my own boundaries. This is more than running, this is adventuring!
This was also my People Move challenge for JCWI.
February: The Heart of Gower
This challenge was special and memorable because it was a creative and collective effort to raise awareness of families separated by the UK border.
JCWI hosted the event: Have a Heart this Valentine’s Day
The weather was shocking on Valentine’s weekend. Nevertheless, I had great fun creating the biggest heart shape on Gower Peninsula with the company of my friend Sally and my faithful dog Bb8.
Slow down, sleep more, eat more – a runner’s December challenge
This challenge came about in the ongoing aftermath of the Dragon’s Back Race… and then Park Run in October!
My right leg is just not quite right. It is an ongoing challenge to find pain free running again and feel the flow of freedom as I move across the landscape.
Nevertheless, there is a lot to be gained from moving in the lower gears. I have rediscovered long hikes, baking and movies. I am also learning how to be more comfortable with not chasing goals!
December’s challenge has been the perfect way to wind down a boundary pushing, goal setting year of running challenges for JCWI.
Running goals for 2022
2021 was a big year of running goals for me. It has also been a year to experiment and try new things. I signed up to an event that made me feel slightly unhinged! I stood at more summit trig points in 2021 than in any other year of my life.
Strava sums up my 2021 activity like this:
I will take it easier in 2022. A few fixtures will shape my running year.
- 10km in Bristol on 13 February with the folk from Reunite Families UK.
- Participate in JCWI’s People Move challenge.
- Northern Traverse in April (this is my multi-day ultra marathon indulgence for 2022).
- Volunteer on the event team of Cape Wrath Ultra.
My blog will take on a different flavour as I focus more on the sheer joy of running! Nevertheless, I will continue to advocate for a fairer immigration system and a society that is fair and inclusive.
I will keep my fundraising page open till January 2022 to see in the New Year.
