I completed it!
On 6 November I completed the New York marathon in 5 hours and 2 minutes - slower than I had hoped, but I crossed the finish line none the less.

The day was absolutely amazing. I'd never seen so many people running in my life. There were 37,000 of us who ran. Team Highland Spring consisted of 75 runners and we are hoping to raise over £200,000 for Breast Cancer Care.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last six months. Without all of you, my determination would have faded long before mile 26!

If you would still like to help us support Breast Cancer Care you can make donations on this page until the 6th of January.
ALL DONATIONS ARE WELCOME AND GRATEFULLY RECEIVED. Thank you again. Camille' WEEK 14: I know, I have been pretty slack in updating my training journal over the past several weeks. So, here's what has happened: After week 9 I travelled to Ohio for my cousin Carey's wedding. The wedding was lovely, but the weather was a huge shock to the system. It was 80-90 degrees F every day and didn't drop below 80% humidity. Made training pretty daunting. The longest run I did while I was there was 26k, but suprisingly, it felt good! I think the moisture in the air made it easier to breathe and the fact I was running alongside a river kept the temperature relatively cool. Upon returning to London, the distances have been getting even longer. The longest run I've done to date is 30k, which is just 12k shy of the complete distance. This may sound good, but I was actually supposed to do 32k, and had to stop short because I ran out of water. About 10k from the end ot the run, without any fluids, I became obsessed with finding drinking fountains. The first two I came across were both out of order, and I nearly sat down on the spot and cried! I was desparate. I made it out of that park and then decided I couldn't go any further without water. So, you can see, I still have some extreme training to do if I'm going to make it all the way to the end of 42k in November. The final event of note that has been happening in my training is that I seem to be suffering with running-induced digestion problems frequently, ie, I need to sprint home mid-run on a semi-regular basis so as not to have a really BIG problem. Too much information, perhaps you may say, but it is happening and I need to know how to stop it from doing so. I'm going to do some research on the internet, but if anybody else out there who has done training before has ever suffered from this, please let me know! and tell me what to do to aviod it :-) FINALLY, thank you so much to Carly, Gavin, Kelly, Srot, Mark, Denise, Lewis, Bella, and Ruth Rich for sponsoring me. Your support keeps me going. WEEK 9: Well, I survived week 9 without collapse. Some highlights this week were: Longest run: 21.6km Biggest post-run meal: 10 pieces of pizza after aforementioned run Best heckle by pedestrian: "You're cheating!" (to which I responded too loudly "no I'm not!") Thank you to everyone who is keeping up with my adventure and supporting me throughout. Till next week... WEEK 8: Everything has calmed down this week, including my training schedule - it was nice to have a rest week with shorter distances after the difficult half marathon last Sunday. But, the programme steps up a gear starting in week 9, so I'm well rested and ready for it... I think. I'll keep you posted. (If I don't write an update next Monday, you will know it's because I've collapsed in a heap somewhere within a 10km radius from my flat.) I owe a huge thank you this week to Steven Poole of The Food Bureau Ltd and Sheila Fanny Mae for sponsoring me. WEEK 7: So much has happened this week, both good and bad, it's difficult to know where to start. Here's a brief run-down: WEDNESDAY 6 JULY >> London celebrated as it was announced the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games was successful. There was a sense of pride and euphoria in the city so great you could taste it. THURSDAY 7 JULY >> London's celebrations were cut short... terrorists bombed three Underground trains and a bus in the centre of the capital. By noon, the death toll was mounting and London's mood had changed from joy to horror, literally overnight. It was a very dark, sad day indeed. FRIDAY 8 JULY >> The dust began to settle and everyone set about the long process of healing and crime scene investigation. I discovered my bicycle had been a casualty of the day too - it was stolen over night from the train station along with at least 10 others. scumbags. SUNDAY 10 July >> I completed my first half marathon in a time of 2hrs 2mins! Not under 2 hours as I had hoped, but close enough for me - hurray! Boy was it warm though - see Sunday's weather report left - have you ever seen so many suns on a map of the UK? A big thank you this week to Resh and Josie for sponsoring me. WEEK 6: Emma joined me this weekend to do our first 10k race ever... the British 10k London Run on Sunday the 3rd. We arrived at Hyde Park Corner a little early and to our surprise there weren't many runners there - only small groups of people warming up. I thought maybe everyone had opted to go to Edinburgh with Bob Geldof instead. Five minutes later, and we were startled to catch a glimpse of 20,000 people heading up Piccadilly toward us - it began to dawn... we were only 50 metres from the starting line; the people around us were extremely fast runners; everyone else had congregated at the left luggage area 1km away; we were going to get run over! After an unsuccessful attempt to sneak back through the crowd to avoid being trampled, we just gave up and enjoyed our front row seats for the start of the race instead. Gebrselassie, with his amazing stride, led a field of elite athletes out of the starting gate. We saw him again about twenty minutes later when we were on km 3 and he was passing us going the other way on km 8! He finished in 28 minutes - Emma and I didn't go quite that fast, but I am proud to say we didn't stop once and finished in a very respectable time. I now feel a bit more prepared for the marathon. Thank you very much to Kim for your sponsorship this week. WEEK 5: Phwoa, can I just say 13k feels a lot longer than it is. I'm glad I've got 19 more weeks to train, because I'm going to need them. I did my longest run yet on Friday: 13 kilometers of sweat, panting, and "It's sooooooo hot" muttered along the way. But I finished it. At least I'm past that 10km barrier. I received lots of encouragement from my mother this week, who was visiting from California. Plus, a training tip from Roger - apparently the New York Times is a good purchase to make the morning of the marathon while waiting to get to the starting line. The reason being, he explained, is November in NY isn't very warm and the NY Times is a good insulator to stuff down your sweatsuit(US)/tracksuit(UK) so you don't freeze while waiting. I'm grateful for the tip and also to learn it won't be anywhere near as hot in NY as it is right now in London. Thank you very much indeed to my sponsors this week: Sarah, Nancy and Uncle Bill. I'm nearly a quarter of the way through training, but MORE than a quarter of the way to our fundraising goal. It is really amazing. WEEK 4: This week London could have been L.A., it was so hot. Summer has arrived - glorious sunshine! Running was pretty hard going on Saturday and Sunday. It took me 5 minutes longer to do the same distance I was doing last week - at one point I swear I was going backwards. November in New York better not be as hot as this. Highland Spring delivered a huge supply of water to the office on Friday just in time for the scorcher of a weekend though - thank goodness. And thank you to everyone who helped me carry the 30 cases into the building! Many, many thanks to the Steel family, Hb, Mike & Jo, and Emma for your sponsorship this week. WEEK 3: The sun has been shining in London this past week, which has made it much easier to go out and jog each day. This week my wildlife adventure had to do with BUGS. As some of you may know, when the sun comes out in London, so does the pollen and the nits, nats, mosquitos, flies, and any other winged insect you can imagine. Eyes, nose, mouth - you name the orifice located on my face, a bug got in it on every run this week... I don't even think my ears were immune. Poor little creepy-crawlys. I got so used to it, I'd just swallow them instead of spitting them out. Aside from the onslaught of flying creatures every time I hit Dulwich park, everything is going well. Thank you James, Dave & Emily, Simon, Suze and Mark for your sponsorship - don't worry, I don't think they let sweaty runners into the shops on Park Lane, so I won't be tempted off-route during the marathon. WEEK 2: Starting to feel like I remember how to run this week. I even went for a run before work one day... Dulwich park is full of wildlife early in the morning. I don't think they took kindly to me disturbing their serenity though - a squirrel even tried to attack from the tree-tops. Pretty startling at 6:30 in the morning when I am jogging still half asleep, I tell you! WEEK 1: It hasn't sunk in that I am actually running the marathon yet. Thank you so much to my first sponsors - Mom, Tracey, Martin, Roger and James Beaton! It really makes me want to go out and run every day knowing people are supporting me. FUNDRAISING: It's very exciting to be running for such an essential charity and inspires me throughout my training. It would encourage me even more if you would dig deep and sponsor me online for this very important cause. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Breast Cancer Care will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you. So please give me as much support as you can by sponsoring me now. Thank you very much for your support. Camille