EDINBURGH MARATHON - Sunday 25th May 2008
If you already have a place and want to run for us – it will be great to have you on board and we will fully support you. Please email Lynn Hart with your name, address, contact number and running vest or t shirt size - we will send you our complete fundraising pack.
Simone Griffin has volunteered to run for Autism Speaks, here is her story:
The question was asked of me… "Why did I choose Autism Speaks to raise money for?"… To be honest I didn't choose Autism Speaks – but I strongly agree with the choice that was made!
A little bit of a background - I am an Australian Speech and Language Therapist and I arrived here in London in October 2006. I guess you could say I am on a stop over in the UK for just under 2 years to work hard and save enough money to do my PhD in Canada (which of course is going to be researching into Autism) starting on September 2008! I work just with children with autism spectrum disorder and have done so for the past 8 years. I work a full time job, I do independent speech and language therapy work after hours and on weekends, and I also have a few children with autism which I do specialist behaviour work with on weekends too (respite care). So it is a 7 days a week job (including most evenings) working with children with autism and their families – and I absolutely love it!
So, in my spare time I am training for the Edinburgh marathon on May 25th 2008. So I thought if I am going to run 26.2 miles – my sweat, blood and tears (and the blood blisters that I keep getting) should be worth something to someone. So I asked one of my first families that I started working with when I arrived in the UK – what charity means the most to them and would be worthy of raising money for – "Autism Speaks" was their reply. I laughed at their response – because I agreed with them, so much so that in May 2006, I ran my first marathon in Australia and I also personally chose Autism Speaks to raise money for (the American branch!) – Great minds think alike – so Autism Speaks is my choice of charity and if you want to sponsor me please click on my Just Giving link, or if you would like to ask me a question please email me . Thank you.
