On Sunday 14 May 2017, Pro Coaching Academy coaches Suzy and Chris Collins will be running the Plusnet Leeds Half Marathon.  Whereas Chris is a veteran, in more ways than one, this will be the longest race Suzy has competed in!

In conversation Chris said ‘Parkinson’s has been very personal to me for many years now.  My uncle suffered for many years and died through the disease.  My father, Geoff Collins, was diagnosed many years ago and currently lives in a care home in France.  Late last year, he went missing for 24 hours, he just disappeared.  The local police eventually found him the following day lying face down on a rock by a river.  He had survived a very cold night outside, we were all so relieved.  He has no recollection of how he got there.  Parkinson’s is such a terrible illness and anything we can do to help raise both awareness and money for the charity has to be worthwhile.’

Suzy said ‘I have never really been a runner but for a long time I have wanted to challenge myself and see what I could achieve.  I am nervous but excited at the same time and really want to run well. The training is hard at times, especially in this cold weather but I feel on top of the world when I have beaten my last time or run that little bit further.  Roll on May!’

Pro Coaching Academy has donated a bottle of champagne to help with the fund-raising.  Anyone who donates £2.50 or more will be asked to pick a finishing time and whoever is the nearest to Suzy and Chris’s average finishing time will win it, simple!  To donate please visit the JustGiving webpage here.

Chris said, ‘We have been training since October, well Suzy has, and we have stopped posting our training times online to make it harder to guess.  We both have a finishing time in mind and we are definitely on target to get there, but many more training miles to go!

We will update you with regular reports on how the fund-raising and training are going!  Good luck to Chris and Suzy.

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