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A day we should all be proud of

By Lizzie Lleshi, Community Events Team Manager, Save the Children

I DID IT! I ran 6.4km in 55 minutes around the Emirates Stadium for ‘Be a Gunner. Be a Runner’. I’m stunned that I made it.

It was a fantastic atmosphere at the stadium; a lovely feeling of lots of Arsenal supporters doing a great thing for Save the Children.

Be a Gunner, Be a Runner children's race

I arrived just as the children’s run was finishing and they were all bouncing around with excitement. At that point I wished I could’ve done the children’s distance, as the stadium looked even more enormous that before.

I was reassured that everyone was as apprehensive as me and I was very impressed with the amount of people wearing gold race numbers, meaning they’d raised over £500.

Don’t let it beat you

A cheer went up as the start horn sounded and I stuck to my plan of ignoring everyone else and just going at my own pace, so quite quickly my husband and I were last in the group.

However – slow and steady was a good plan as we were soon overtaking walkers but giving them a pat on the shoulder and encouraging them to keep going.

There was an amazing steward who shouted his encouragement to every runner and it gave me a spurt of energy when he shouted “you can do this, it won’t beat you”.

Team spirit

The spectators and the Save the Children team gave huge cheers – at the start of the run I was waving and smiling at them, but by the end it was a barely audible grunt.

There was a great team spirit throughout the whole run – loads of Gunners being proud supporters of both Arsenal and Save the Children.

And it wasn’t just at the Emirates. Runners in more than 20 countries including Australia, India and Poland, took part in the event. So far, the event has raised £40,000 for our work with children, and we’re still counting!

Well done everyone!

Find out how you can fundraise for us


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