Is it time for another blog?!

Whenever I’m told it’s my turn to write the NRAS blog my mind goes blank and I can’t think of what to tell you all, so here goes...

It’s hard to believe that we are now at the end of August, with what little Summer we have had almost over, and are looking at settling ourselves in to the Autumn and wondering what the last quarter of the year holds for us. We’ve had the excitement of the Olympics, which having been a complete sceptic before they started, I ended up watching almost everything and getting excited about sports I had never even paid any attention to before! It was particularly exciting for me as my husband is heavily involved in rowing and ran the timing team at Eton Dorney so was well and truly ‘in the thick of it’ and very much part of the what I think most people have agreed was the greatest show on earth. And now we have the Paralympics to enjoy and revel at the amazing determination our athletes have to succeed, whatever the odds. Leigh Walmsley, a paralympic archer, is competing for Team GB and is a great supporter of NRAS, having lived with RA for 13 years. We wish her every success in her quest for a medal and will be watching her compete on the 1st and 5th September so if you are watching do cheer her on or send her a good luck tweet to Twitter@auberginearcher. My husband will be in the finish tower at Eton Dorney again for the Paralympic rowing so I am looking forward to hearing all about it when he finally returns at the end of the weekend.

But once the Paralympic entertainment is over there will still be lots to keep us busy here at NRAS. September and October are some of our busiest months with runners taking part in the Great North Run, Royal Parks Half Marathon and the Great South Run – a total of 34 runners. We are, as ever, so grateful to all those people who take on such a great challenge to support us and will be cheering them all on as they pound the streets in Newcastle, London and Southsea. We’ve also got a team of 3 people setting off on the Lands End to John O’Groats cycle ride in early September so we hope the weather will be kind to them and speed them along. Without the support of people like these we would not be able to continue to support all those who live with RA so a big thank you to them all.

For those of you who are not able to undertake such physical challenges, or quite sensibly choose not to(!),don’t forget to take part in the NRAS Online Quiz. This month you could win a signed copy of a John Bishop DVD as well as have the chance to win a weekend for two at the Harte and Garter Hotel in Windsor in our grand draw at the end of the year. Just go to www.justgiving.org.uk/nrasq..., pay your £2 entry fee and get your thinking caps on! Also, watch this space for news on our new knitting challenge which we are currently putting together and hope that lots of you will take part in.

In the meantime, I seem to have managed to thinks of something to say to you all so a very happy weekend and don’t forget to cheer on Leigh and her arrows.

Tracey