Great Bristol Run: Mum's run for daughter "very emotional"

The AJ Bell Great Bristol Run has raised millions for charities

Thousands are preparing to take part in the Great Bristol Run on Sunday.

The event hosts a half marathon and a 10k run with a race specifically for runners who are visually impaired and a one-mile family race.

Abbey Silvester is running in memory of her daughter Isla who was born stillborn in 2016 and said completing the run will be "very emotional".

Start times are set in waves with runners setting off for the family race at 09:00 BST from Anchor Road.

Abbey Silvester, 29, is raising money for a new CuddleCot at St Michael's Hospital, which allows parents to spend time with their stillborn babies.

Ms Silvester said she feels fortunate to have had four more children who help keep their sister Isla's memory alive

She had the use of one when her daughter Isla was "born sleeping" and Isla's name will be on the donated CuddleCot, which "helps her name live on", Ms Silvester said.

"I made a promise years ago Isla would always be remembered and this is a way of putting her name to something that is making a positive impact [so] I've done her proud."

"I know for people using the CuddleCot, it will be some of their darkest days, but if I hadn't had use of one I wouldn't have Isla's hand prints or anything."

Ms Silvester's running total is over £3,000 with the money being split between Cots for Tots, the dedicated charity for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St Michaels Hospital and Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal.

She said preparing for the run has been "quite emotional, obviously [I feel] proud and really nervous but that's because I know how much of a difference it can make".

Rachel Whitfield was told there was no cure for Long Covid and thought she would never run again

Rachel Whitfield, 49, from Horfield, Bristol, was told she would never run again after experiencing long Covid but has since made a full recovery and will take on the half marathon.

"In December 2020 I got a mild flu and wasn't well but I wasn't hospitalised and after a week I recovered then went back to normal and started running again."

She said she "suddenly realised" she was sleeping for 14 hours and remembers having brain fog, fatigue and "my toes swelled up".

"I thought my life was over. I'd call my mum crying on the phone it was awful."

She said it was quitting work that helped her as it "gave me the space to really slowly get better".

Ms Whitfield started a blog documenting her personal journey from Long Covid to complete recovery.

She said in the middle of the pandemic "when you're ill you read about people not getting better and I realised my nervous system had shut down and the virus was a chronic trigger".

After engaging in a training course which helped her understand the need to change her way of thinking, she said she retrained her brain.

"You're nervous system is scared and there's a fear which I had to try and overcome [which I did] by starting to run.

She said Sunday is important to her because "I thought I'd never run again".

"I won't be particularly fast, [but] now I just enjoy running, it means everything.

"It's like part of my identity and when the thing you do that switches you off from all the stresses is the thing you're told you're never going to do again…

"I just pinch myself I'm able to do it. I've got my life back.

Richard George said preparing for the race each year gives him a focus to stay fit

Richard George is preparing for his ninth 10k since almost dying eleven years ago.

"In 2012 I had a heart attack… I can remember when I woke up from the coma with the nurses around me, getting a second chance, and that was enough for me to want to give something back.

He watched a friend take part in the run a year later and thought it was "really well organised and fun."

He said training for his first event in 2014 was "really hard" but after achieving his first 10k, he wanted to take part again.

'Gives me a purpose'

"I've been raising £1,000 plus each year so it's been quite good… and my family and friends all support me.

"It gives me a focus to keep fit… without it I wouldn't be training so it gives me a purpose".

He said: "Being given a second chance at life… I mean I died four times… is an eye opener".

"Giving back to the British Heart Foundation is the inspiration - and thanks - for giving me another chance".