Dear Friends,

Some of you may already know that I am running my first marathon this year on 26th April. I always swore I would never run a marathon but an opportunity arose last year to run for Action on Addiction.

Why Action on Addiction (AonA) www.actiononaddiction.org.uk.  About 3 years ago my boss (Dominic Casserley) became Chairman of AonA and I started to get to know more about the charity and the people that work within the organisation as a result. Action on Addiction is a charity that provides both residential and day-care treatment, provides tailored support to families, and trains counsellors in conjunction with the University of Bath. Drug and alcohol addiction needs to be addressed more and more these days given the stresses and strains of life in the modern world as people can easily turn to drugs and alcohol to escape. Some believe that addicts "only have themselves to blame", while the costs to the economy and society are easy to forget. AonA charity needs every penny it can get to make a difference, to the addicts and to the society in which we all live.

Watch this space for training updates.  I survived!!! 4hrs 11mins

Dominic and I spent the last week leading up to the marathon closely monitoring the weather forecast on numerous weather websites; discussing tapering tactics and how to avoid blisters should we run in a downpour.  After all the training I had put in I think my biggest fear was the prospect of running in the pouring rain.  Luckily for me we had sun, a little cloud and a cool breeze – perfect conditions! 

So I set off in zone 7 from the red gate, runner 33751 and took 10mins to cross the start line, after that I spent the next 22 miles trying to dodge the slightly slower runners around me, water bottles, teenagers crossing the road between the runners.  By mile 10 I had drunk too much water prior to the race so managed to find a porterloo without much of a queue so stopped for 3/4 mins, mildly inconvenient but necessary on such a hot day.  At mile 14 I was just smiling away to myself and thinking - what an amazing experience, I can do this, and then....OUCH!!!! before I knew it I had trodden on a stray lucozade bottle and twisted my foot...NOOO!  My initial thought was 'that's it', 'one momentary lapse in concentration and I'm out of the marathon'.  I waited a little while to ease my throbbing foot and then slowly limped back in to the thick of the pack chastising myself for being so foolish and getting complacent about the job in hand.  By mile 18 I still felt strong and by 22 I started speeding up a little.  I saw some friends cheering me on amongst the crowd and couldn't help but want to run faster and faster.  As I rounded the corner at Westminster I knew I was so close and I also knew my parents were on standby somewhere around there to cheer me on, but where were they??  I didn't have time to think, just focus....avoid the water bottles, the delirious runner who's weaving from side to side, watch the speed, don't get ahead of yourself, and then suddenly there they were, my parents cheering me on from the beginning of Birdcage Walk and that was it - the emotions nearly took over me.  I nearly started sobbing and my heart was in my throat and I began to feel very wobbly but I still had 1km to go!  Focus, focus, breath....I can do this.....I had to calm myself down and finally I rounded the corner with 385 yards to go and gave it my best shot with a final ‘dash’ to the finish line.  It was the most incredible experience but I've never had to concentrate so hard for 4 hours in my life!  Running the marathon on such a glorious day, with such an incredible crowd was an experience second to none and I would do it all over again tomorrow if I could. 

After crossing the finish line, I met a fellow AonA runner and I asked him why he had chosen to run for AonA and he said that a few years ago he had received treatment - I suddenly felt very humbled by this guy.  He was in great shape and very inspiring, it was great to actually meet a success story and it reminded me of why I had run this marathon.  Ultimately, it wasn't about getting a great time or about beating Dominic (I was under alot of pressure from alot of people to beat you - sorry!) but it was about people like 'Magnifcent Max'. 

So once again, and most importantly of all, I could not have achieved this challenge without the amazing support, advice and encouragement from all my family, friends, gym buddies and work colleagues - thank you so much and thank you even more for the fantastic donations for Action on Addiction. 

Lizzie xx