February 2021 challenge: #HaveAHeart

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I spent Valentine's Day week running and walking heart shapes on Strava to raise awareness about families separated by UK immigration policies.

Fundraising for JCWI in 2021

This is the second recap post of my 2021 monthly running challenges. These challenges are part of my fundraiser for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI). 



Recapping the horrors of UK immigration each month

As part of my fundraising efforts, I am also raising awareness about what's happening in the world of UK immigration each month.

I want people to understand just how much awfulness happens in 28 to 31 days. My recaps will be over on my Medium site.

Why #HaveAHeart

My fundraising buddy Thia came up with the brilliant idea for the #HaveAHeart challenge. The challenge was a collaboration with Reunite Families UK who support families separated by the UK immigration system.


Most notably, families are separated through through a minimum income requirement Brits must meet to sponsor a non-British partner and children. Over 40% of Brits don't earn this income.

As February is the month of Valentine's Day, we wanted to draw attention to how these cruel rules force people apart from their loved ones, and ask others to show their solidarity with the affected families.

So rather than a challenge just for ourselves, we had an open invite for everyone to join us in using a fitness app to either run, walk, or cycle in the shape of a heart.

We asked people to post the heart on social media with #HaveAHeart.

My hearts

To make it an extra challenge for myself, I decided to create a heart shape every day from 6 to 14 February and invited some friends along the way to create them with me.

Saturday 6 February

I spent a very long time looking at maps to see where I could create heart shapes. This route didn't get me the best-looking heart, but it was a very satisfying 7 mile run.
A map of a heart-shaped route.
A weird heart, but a good run.

Sunday 7 February

I met my friend Duncan and his baby for a heart walk around the Meadows. 
Probably the youngest participant in #HaveAHeart.
It didn't go as intended as I forgot about the gated playpark which got in the way of where I originally wanted to make a turn.
A map of a heart-shaped route in the Meadows.
Silly playpark messing with my heart.

Monday 8 February

I went to a local park to create a freeform heart by walking.
A map of a heart-shaped route.
My first freeform heart.
I got a nice view of Arthur's Seat in the distance.
Arthur's Seat in the distance of a park.
This would be snow-filled less than 24 hours later.

Tuesday 9 February

I ran through the snow and many, many puddles to get a street-based heart.
A map of a heart-shaped route.
A heart after a snowstorm.
A snowy view of Edinburgh city centre.
Snowy Edinburgh.
I also found a snow-formed heart in the pavement on my nighttime walk.
A heart in pavement outlined by snow.
Snow-pavement heart.

Wednesday 10 February

I walked through very deep snow to freeform a heart in another park.
A map of a heart-shaped route.
Another freeform walking heart.
Me with my legs deep in the snow.
Did I mention it was deep snow?

Thursday 11 February

I ran two streets that formed a V and had a park at the top where I thought I would freeform the upper half. 

The entrance to the park is this narrow enclosure, though, so it came out a bit funky looking.
A map of a heart-shaped route.
A heart, kind of.
Park running meant running right through the deep snow.
A snow covered park with blue skies.
Blue skies, white snow.

Friday 12 February

I met my friend JT in Braid Hills to do a freeform walking heart. Turns out, that's more of a challenge to do through hills than a flat park.
A map of a heart-shaped route in Braid Hills.
The left side is where I ran into some tricky hills to traverse.
JT also brought a sledge, which I was not expecting, but resulted in the most wonderful sledging adventures.
Me and JT after finishing our heart walk.
Heart is done, let the sledging begin.
My first few attempts had me falling out of the sledge very quickly. I learned that you have to keep your legs flat out and not crunched up to stay in.
Me going downhill on the sledge.
Legs out does the trick.
A very friendly dog greeted me at one of my finishes.
Me on a sledge with a dog next to me.
A new canine friend.
I thought we were done with sledging when JT suggested I try another hill we were passing. This hill had some bumps that were absolutely terrifying to go over, but I was rather impressed with myself for staying on the whole time.

Terror aside, it was ridiculously fun. There's a new persona in town, people: Happy Sledging Lauren.
Me looking very happy after finishing a sledge ride.
Happy Sledging Lauren.
She's kind of like Happy Wales Lauren, but colder. You can read my Aberystwyth 10k recap to learn about Happy Wales Lauren. It's a thing.

Saturday 13 February

Finally a run to get in a decent-looking street-based heart. It was very, very icy, though. No slips and falls, thankfully.
A map of a heart-shaped route.
Ran on some very icy streets to get the dip at the top.
I did make some heart-shaped lemon lavender shortbread later in the day as well.
Lemon lavender shortbread hearts on a plate.
I run hearts, I bake hearts.

Sunday 14 February

I did my final walking heart with my friend Mike in Leith Links. Mike is a perfectionist and was not happy with the beginning of our first attempt so I had to restart my Strava recording.
Mike and me after walking the heart.
Mandatory post-heart selfie.
He then wasn't happy with the second attempt, but thankfully, third time worked a charm. That's a pretty good-looking heart right there.
A map of a heart-shaped route in Leith Links.
A perfect heart.

All the hearts

JCWI created a thread of all the hearts shared on Twitter. It's quite heart-warming to see all the support for this campaign. 
And not on Twitter, but a special shout out and thanks to my coworkers I follow on Strava who also participated in making hearts.

Finally, a special thanks to those who have donated to my fundraiser so far this month. Will you add your name to the list?

March challenge

Speed work!

For the first time since I started running, I'm actually going to try and run faster. 

Keeping my fingers crossed for no more ice this year. 


Comments

  1. ThiaFebruary 15, 2021 at 12:00 PM

    Love your blog! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Your sledding video had me laughing out loud! Brilliant! I’m sharing this for sure!

    ReplyDelete

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