Masters student Jessica Gagen blogs about her experience of running for wellbeing whilst also raising money for charity – with fancy dress and wacky stunts thrown in!
Exam season can be stressful – monotonous study days, late nights and never ending to do lists mean it’s super important to take time out to recharge. My favourite way to do so is through exercise, however this exam season – it came with a twist!
My name is Jessica, I’m a third year integrated masters student of aerospace engineering here at the University of Liverpool, and like the rest of us, exam season manages to well and truly snow me under with stress – this year being no different. My favourite way to escape the multivariable calculus that usually consumes me is to head out on a quick jog to recharge my batteries, and if you like to do the same, there’s a chance you’ve spotted me out and about recently… but not necessarily realised it was me!
Last year I undertook the challenge of running 5k everyday of March in fancy dress in order to raise the profile of STEM careers and advertise opportunities in the engineering sector to girls. I ended up stretching my challenge for 96 days and gained the nickname “Fancy Dress Jess” for doing so. My efforts gained a lot of press attention and I ended up placing 2nd in the 2021 Miss England competition, all the while interning as a software engineer at the University and completing the second year of my degree!
Having raised over £2500 for charity during my campaign last year, I decided to run every day for a month once more, but this time round I was joined by a guest – a person who’s also known by nickname around the city. Allow me to explain…
Last year, not long before I was due to hit the 40 day 5k fancy dress run mark, I was about to set off on the daily jog, dressed as a dragon, when I bumped into a guy running down the docks in a pair of speedos. We got chatting and soon realised we were on similar missions, as he was also running 5k every day for charity in a somewhat wacky “outfit” (if you can call it that). The guy in question was Dr Howard Stringer, an NHS doctor working in orthopaedics, who has ties to the University through his role as an honorary clinical fellow at the medical school! Howard raised over £14,000 for charity by running for 100 days, and having stayed in touch, this year we decided to team up in a joint mega charity effort which will see us facing extra challenges along the way!
Every day in January we ran 5k a day, Howard in his speedos and me in my fancy dress, and at every £500 milestone we set an additional challenge. Having started running in normal clothes, at the £500 mark, Howard started running in just his speedos once more, and I marked the occasion by joining in my undies! At £1000 raised we cycled around the city, at £1500 raised we did our 5k three legged, when we reached £2000 we pledged to jump into the docks! We’ll document this on Instagram so watch this space!
As well as raising money for our three chosen charities Diabetes UK, Alder Hey and Mind, primarily we set out to spread some cheer in what otherwise may be a gloomy first month of the year for some. We’re both very aware of the pressures a lot of people feel this time of year, not least students sitting important exams, and both having used exercise as an outlet to escape these said pressures over the years, we wanted to encourage as many people as possible to get out into the open for some fresh air – be it walking or running, to recharge those batteries in a time where our minds need it most!
To follow our endeavours, you can find us on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/jessicaashley_
www.instagram.com/doctorspeedo
To donate to our just giving page, follow this link: