Lisa Johnstone is a team member from our West Dunbartonshire and Argyle & Bute branch who is in training to run the Edinburgh half marathon, to raise money for Cornerstone.

In addition to being a team member for Cornerstone, Lisa is also a fitness instructor and personal trainer. “Some people think because I’m a personal trainer that it’s easy but running is a whole different beast. I started running to challenge myself and began doing 5ks and 10ks, running a marathon was something I wanted to tick off my bucket list.”

In 2019 Lisa and Kirsteen, her friend and running partner, trained for the Inverness marathon which Lisa completed in 5 hours, 49 minutes, raising money for a charity to support Kennedy’s disease. Since the marathon Lisa has been running less but still managing five or six miles a week.

When the opportunity to run the half marathon in Edinburgh came around Lisa, who was now a team member for Cornerstone, decided to run it to raise money for the people we support.

“Because I’m working for Cornerstone and seeing the amazing work we do it’s a perfect opportunity. It’s motivating because people are relying on me to raise money. The five ladies I support also keep me motivated, they are always asking about how much I’ve run and they’ll come to the gym with me once a week too.”

Lisa’s main drive to be a fitness instructor was to stop exercise being a scary thing for people who don’t like it. She is always honest about her fitness journey too - “I do these exercises and find it hard as well.”

At the end of the half-marathon Lisa is expecting to feel a great sense of elation. “I cried when I finished the marathon two years ago. It’s a weird experience. I always compare running long races to having babies – you do it thinking this’ll be great then there is a bit where it gets painful and you think I can’t do this. Then comes the end and you have this amazing reward, the adrenaline kicks in and you feel like you are on top of the world, you forget all about the pain and want to do it all over again.”

Lisa aimed to raise £400 for Cornerstone for doing the half marathon and we are delighted to note that she has already smashed her goal! If you want to help her go even further past her target, and raise more money for the people Cornerstone supports you can donate here.

The Edinburgh half-marathon is on the 29^th May and we wish Lisa and running partner, Kirsteen, the best of luck! 

To read more of our Supporter Stories you can click here!