Hello Everyone! 

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page!  And thank you to everyone who so kindly sponsored me in my 'marathon' challenge!

The day itself was amazing, and the crowds were absolutely fantastic.  Despite running much of the course vowing never to do it ever again, I am so pleased I was able to take part again and it truly was a brilliant day, even if the weather was far too warm!   I had wanted to beat my time of 4 hours 34 minutes, however the heat was proving to be unbearable and I was suffering a bit, so I'd ruled out the possibility of beating my time.  However, miracles do happen, and as I ran down the Mall I realised that I could actually take off a few seconds if I gave it my all.  So energy was summoned from my toes, and I managed a swift hobble to the finish line, knocking 2 minutes off my time - 4 hours 32 minutes!!  Better than nothing I suppose!

BLESMA is a charity I have worked with closely for the last two years, and one I have grown to love and admire for all the wonderful work that they do.  We have seen far too many of our soldiers returning from places such as Iraq and Afghanistan having been seriously injured, and sadly some have lost limbs.  The courage and determination these soldiers have shown in their fight to recover and to walk again is truly astounding, and at times, very humbling.  It is for this reason that I ran the London Marathon to try and raise some money for BLESMA, to help them with the wonderful work that they do in supporting these soldiers.  As I was swiftly overtaken by a man with a dynamic false leg at around 20 miles, I was very much put to shame!!

So, just to say thank you all so much for your support.  I managed to raise just over £1,300, making the pain and all the training all the more worthwhile.

Much love to you all

Karen xxxxxxxxxxxxx