Although we had been talking about this event for months and months before the summer holidays and some of us had been training for it (not as much as we would have liked), it didn't feel real until we were all sat down in the car together - dressed in our running gear - and drove down to Bonn. Once we arrived there, I was surprised by the amount of people that had gathered there - it turned out that there were actually over 11,000 people running with us all for various companies/charities! After meeting up with the group who were supporting Cystic Fibrosis and after we got our shirts/drinks/badges, we joined the huge group getting ready to start the run.
The run was due to start at around 18:00, but as we were in the middle of the crowd, it took us about half an hour to reach the starting point. In total, the run was around 6km in length following a path of twists and turns, with a lake on one side at all times. We had people cheering us on from the sidelines, including musicians playing various genres of music every 500m or 1km. Every time I slowed down a little, either the music or other Cystic Fibrosis runners would cheer me (and others) on to keep running. It gave us all in the group so much pride and joy to be running for such a cause, among so many others running in support of their various causes.
At the finish line, we all met with Antonia, the lovely girl who Ellie and Anna had interviewed not too long ago, and her mother. Both Antonia and her mother were amazing people and thanked us each individually for taking part in such an amazing event. The talk with them both reminded me (and all of us) why we were doing this project in the first place and encouraged us to organise more events to raise money. We got to take a few pictures with Antonia before we all had to rush off home and lay down for a well earned rest.
LO1: With preparing for the run, there were many opportunities to identify areas for development of my running style and stamina. We worked together to prepare for the race and motivated each other to take the time
LO2: As I've been going to running club fairly regularly and also going running on the weekends whenever I can, the new challenges that were undertaken did not involve the running process itself, but rather the way in which we were running. It was very difficult to run in such a huge group of people, where I had to make sure to avoid running into them. Another difficulty was the consistent pace of running. My running style is much more based on running fast for a short time and then taking a short break.
LO3: As a group, we took the initiative to plan this CAS experience as soon as we found out that it was possible. As it was around 30km away from our school, we had to arrange transport for the way there and back, as well as how we meet each other when we got there.
LO4: This event, which was part of our ongoing CAS project, demonstrates our commitment and perseverance. We have been consistently working towards this project since September/October 2015.
LO5: This project on the whole, as well as the run that we did, demonstrates the benefits of working collaboratively. If we were a group of just one or two people, our efforts would not have the same impacts that our group of 7 has. We have managed to raise a lot more money and awareness towards the cause than we ever thought possible.
LO6: Our CAS project demonstrates engagement with issues of global significance through the fact that Cystic Fibrosis is an issue that affects people worldwide. During this run, we saw people from all over the world taking part, even within the Cystic Fibrosis group. It was amazing to see the connections that people can have simply though supporting such an amazing cause.
LO7: Finally, the project demonstrates that the ethics of choices and actions have been thoroughly considered throughout the planning and carrying out of the Cystic Fibrosis was project.
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