I was obviously part of this team but there was one main difference, I ran dressed as an Elephant and not just any elephant but our mascot called Peanut.
Over the last few weeks before the race and I told everyone what I was planning to do everybody asked me the same three questions 1) Are you Mad, 2) Why is your mascot an elephant and 3) why have you called it Peanut?
Well the answer to the first question is yes, but elephants and peanuts just seemed to have a running theme all the way through Amanda's pregnancy.
It all started when Amanda showed me her first scan and I happened to say that Isabella looked like a peanut, well I thought it was more diplomatic than saying she looked like a alien! However this then became my nickname for Isabella and from then on I always asked how she and Peanut were.
But that was just the start and coincidences just grew from that moment.
Nicola, Amanda's mum spotted a toy elephant in mamma's and pappa's so she bought it, it turned out that this range was called ....peanut!
The very first teddy Amanda bought for Isabella was from the Disney shop, and it was a dumbo the elephant soft toy which had a wonder perfume smell, and the first pink toy was bought by Amanda's sister Rebecca and it was a pink elephant from Chester Zoo.
Its no surprise Rebecca has a soft spot for elephants because when she was little the only way we could get her to stop using her dummy was for her to throw it to the elephants in Chester zoo, but that's another story.
A few weeks later Amanda and Geoff received a present in the post from Geoff's sister who lived in Australia, it was a soft teddy which was in fact a baby in a peanut shell.
It sounds obvious but nobody actually spotted there was a theme to all this until Isabella was born and lying in her cot in the maternity ward. Amanda asked for all the teddies that people had bought to be taken to the hospital and the teddies where put in Isabella's cot with her. It was only then when she was lying there surrounded by the soft toys that Amanda and Geoff realised that a lot of people had bought a toy elephant with a connection to a peanut.
It really hit home when the maternity staff provided Amanda with a "Joshua Box" basically a keepsake box donated by another Charity that contained items which they felt would be useful to families who lost children. The people who set up the charity had lost a child themselves named Joshua and the items in the box included a camera, pen and paper, foot and hand print kits. These where items that they thought would have helped them after they lost their son. The boxes are a brilliant idea and provided some comfort at a difficult time. However they also contain one other thing, a little soft toy. It just happened that the soft toy in the box provided for Isabella was an elephant.
From this moment onwards Elephants have always had a connection to Isabella.
Then about two months ago we had just set up the Foundation and I was watching one of the many music channels on tv when Coldplay's paradise video came on, if you haven't seen it the whole band are dressed as elephants running around, its then that I thought that I could do that and the bright idea to run the 10K in one of them costumes started.
So Peanut the elephant mascot was born!
I have to admit I did began to wonder what I had done when I put on the costume on the way to the run. I soon began to think this was a stupid idea, I could hardly see where I was walking never mind run.
However once we got to the start I absolutely loved it.
Firstly I got interviewed by the Manchester Evening News only a small interview but that and a picture in the paper must have helped raise our profile.
Secondly the atmosphere was amazing! I have taken part in this event for the last 6 years and the people always line the streets of the run cheering the crowd on, but this time it was different. There was an excitement amongst the crowd when they saw a 6ft+ pink elephant running towards them.
I lost count of the amount of people who cheered my name or just shouted come on big elephant (I think it was meant in a nice way). Some of fellow runners even slowed down mid race to tell me what I was doing was fantastic and the pats on the back from other runners were constant.
The look on the children's faces is something I will never forget, I had to give that many high fives my hand actually hurt more than my legs and at one point I was zig zaging across the road to and from the crowd as more and more people asked for pictures.
The biggest buzz was seeing my family and the rest of Team Isabella (who had already finished) just before the finish, they provided the biggest cheer of the day.
I crossed the finish line in 1 hour and 26mins not the best time but in my defence it was a boiling hot day and it was sweltering in that costume.
When I crossed the finish line I was emotional, I knew I had done my granddaughter proud we all had and at the end of the day that is why we are doing it.
We think we know why elephants are so important to us. Elephants never forget and we will never forget our Angel Isabella.
Awesome job, and thanks for explaining about the elephant, how lovely.
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