When the going gets tough...

............people like Jo Cunningham get going. Have you heard about Jo? These are some of the things she`s good at: journalism, PR, radio production, juggling life as a working mother,walking Daisy, looking pretty good most of the time, coping with the crap life throws at you...did I mention being a good mate? Yeh I know I mentioned good mates in the last post; but without them--where would you be, really?

So instead of sitting here in my trainers thinking I should go for my daily dash, I`ll dedicate this one to the lady who started me running again, about a year ago. Not only did she sort out that `couch to 5K` app thing on her iphone; she made sure, pretty much, that we stuck to it. We ran about three times a week round the paths behind Sundorne Sports Village.It got to the stage where I could even breathe. And, eventually, gossip. Only in short bursts, mind;so it never got too salacious. Sadly.

Then the `being a good mate` thing stepped up a gear but the running had to stop (heard of DCIS? Not too threatening, but with my family history of breast cancer it was scary, and I could`ve done without it..). And Jo was one of only a handful of people who knew I was getting up at 3.30 am to produce a live radio show, then rushing off for three weeks` intensive radiotherapy every lunchtime.

She, and Ian and a couple more special people got me through that. And I`m running again. (Yeh, I`ll go out in a minute, honest, coach.)

But anyway....Jo`s had tough times of her own. You can read about her Dad, and what she`s doing to help him and others with different kinds of dementia, on the link below.

And when you`ve read it, think about how long you could last on a cross trainer...and how on earth Jo`s going to spend most of 12 hours on one, a week or so from now.

Like I said, she`s tough, and she`s kind. She even did a radio feature on Al`s Cafe, which is one of the places which will benefit from Jo`s efforts. It was an amazingly powerful piece of radio, and quite rightly ended up on BBC Radio 4`s Pick of the Week.

So--it`d be great if you could support her.Click here: http://www.justgiving.com/crosstrainerchallenge">www.justgiving.com/crosstrainerchallenge