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Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I DID IT !!!! 4.43.13 - but there's still time to donate!   Why am I doing this? In early 2010 a friend of mine was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I was already acutely aware of the impact of this disease as my maternal Grandmother succumbed to it when I was in my teens. Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer for women, and the third for men, yet it is one of the least talked about. I entered the public ballot for the 2011 London Marathon in April with the sole intention that if I was successful, I would run in memory of my late Grandmother and in support of my friend, Helena. At the time, I had not even considered the possibility that I would also be running in memory of Helena. Helena passed away on 17th September 2010, leaving behind her husband of 2 years and her daughter, who had not even reached her first birthday. I have so much respect for Helena for the dignity with which she handled herself throughout the gruelling treatment, and the ultimate outcome. Please support me in my effort to raise money to research and treat this terrible disease so that others may have more chance of beating it. So, how's it going? Until October 2010 I had not run more than a few laps of a sports hall for many years, so it was with some degree of trepidation that I pulled on the running shoes and stepped on the treadmill. Much to my surprise it wasn't all that bad! It's been quite a short space of time that I've gone from running 2 miles to 10 miles and I'm delighted that despite the increase in distance, my miles to minutes ratio has remained constant at about 10 minutes a mile. In theory this would give me a finishing time of around 4 1/2 hours, however, I'm realistic enough to realise that is probably quite unlikely! My target is to cross the finishing line in under 5 hours, but essentially, I just want to complete the distance.   UPDATE - 21st January 2011 - I have just complete 13.1 miles - half a marathon, hopefully, this means I'm heading in the right direction with my training. UPDATE - 7th March 2011 - Yesterday I took part on the Silverstone Half Marathon. I finished in a time of 2hrs, 4mins, 44secs. Whilst this is still inkeeping with the average miles/minute, I still doubt I can maintain this pace for 26.2miles! UPDATE - 25th March 2011 - Today I completed my longest training run - 20 miles - in 3hrs, 13mins. It was hard, but I was pleased with the time. I'm now really looking forward to the marathon, which is just 3 weeks today! UPDATE - 8th April 2011 - Well, that's it for the big training. Just completed a 10 mile run, my second this week, and now finally, a week later than planned, I can start my taper.

Jacky Cook - Marathon Maid

Jacky Cook - Marathon Maid

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