Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.   (MARATHON UPDATE - 27/4/10 BELOW)

Hi - I'm Julie and I'm running my third London Marathon for Cats Protection - Worcester and District Branch.  This is me sporting my "cat ears" which I am planning to wear for this year's marathon and someone has kindly knit me a tail!  I've run 18 miles in my ears around my local lanes, so that was entertaining for the passers-by!  I've just got to work on the whiskers now.  

I am sharing the picture with my little feline "Lucy".   She was dumped on a busy road with her Mum and two siblings.   Mum and one sibling were killed on the road before they could be rescued, but "Lucy" and her sister "Maisie" were safely rescued by the Worcester and District Branch of Cats Protection.   I have had Lucy for 5 years now and she is still quite nervous (not surprising given her bad start in life), but she is very special and loved to bits.

I ran my first London Marathon in 2007 in memory of  "Maisie" , who I had sadly lost.   I had a charity place through  Cats Protection, promising to raise a certain sum of money.   I had a super run and super day and could have carried on running beyond the 26.2 miles!!!   I raised £2,400 for the Branch that year, far beyond my minimum target.

I ran in 2008, again obtaining a place through Cats Protection, but what a different year that was.   I had started to have back problems, my husband gave me his cold a week before the Marathon, I awoke on Marathon morning with a thumping headache and hailstones pelted me at the 23 mile mark - hence the photo at the end showed me looking like a drowned rat!   Despite this I still raised a further £2,000 for the Worcester Branch, again raising far more than my minimum target.

In 2009 I managed to get a General ballot place (so I didn't have to raise any money at all if I didn't want to!!).   However due to injury I had to reluctantly pull out and my place was held over to this year.   I have been doing OK with my training (having run 18 miles this morning - 06/03/10), but my knees have started to complain (despite having no knee problems previously).   Therefore I think my body is trying to tell me something (especially as I hit the big "50" last Summer!) and I feel this will have to be my last full Marathon.   This year I am running in memory of "Sophie" who I lost last year and who I rescued originally from my place of work. 

So please help me to make my last Marathon extra special, by helping me to raise lots of money for the Worcester and District Branch of Cats Protection, to help them to rescue, treat and look after lots more deserving cats and kittens, prior to them going to new and loving homes.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you will show me your support by donating today.

27/04/10

Just wanted to update my page so you all know how I did in the Marathon two days ago and how my final training went in preparation for the day.  

With six weeks to go I entered a 20 mile race in Stafford, which was a three lap course (bit boring really).   I was fine on lap one (8 miles), but on lap two I started to struggle and didn't think I was going to be able to continue.   However I carried on, but found myself jogging and walking for about 4 miles and then the Caffeine Gel I took a little earlier kicked in and I managed to run the last two miles.   However the following week I was at the Sports Injury Clinic with a left calf strain which meant no running for 2 weeks after Stafford and hardly any running in week 3 either.   After 5 visits to the clinic I was discharged and I had just 3 weeks left before the marathon.   With just one week to go I did my furthest distance since Stafford which was 12 miles, which was instantly followed by a right hamstring problem, so off back to the Injury Clinic I went.   By this stage I was really worried I wasn't going to get to the start line let alone the finish line.  However after plenty of massages in the last week I got to Black Heath for a rather wet start to the Marathon, feeling dare I say - pain-free!

I had only got to about 2 miles however and I could feel the hamstring starting up again, but thankfully it stayed just as discomfort rather than pain and I had to live with that for the whole of the race.   However I managed to run for 18 miles and then all parts of the legs were starting to tighten up, so rather than risk running too far and everything knotting up, I decided to walk/run the last 8 miles, to be fairly sure of getting to the finish line and this is what I did, finishing in 4 hr. 52 min 42 sec - just 12 min 11 sec slower than my previous London Marathon, so all things considered I can be pretty happy with that.

I wore my ears and my tail and painted some whiskers on my face.   I had a funny comment at the end which made me smile, even though I was aching and stiff as a board, as one of the baggage handlers who was handing our kit bags back to us said "Well done Julie for Cats Protection (my name was on my vest), there's some milk in your goody bag" - that did make me chuckle and I had a few spectators shouting my name followed by "miaow", so I think the gear had the desired effect.   I found a couple of other Cats Protection runners along the route and I ran with "Anna" for a couple of miles probably as she was struggling as she had missed some training due to injury too and we were together when we passed the Head Office staff cheering us on our way with about 2-3 miles left to run.   The weather was humid for the first half, but the sun didn't break through properly until my race was coming to a close which was good.

I had a very eventful journey to get to this marathon - none of my three marathons have been the same - all completely different and I am delighted that I have run my hat-trick of London Marathons for Worcester and District Cats Protection.   I was actually on Hereford and Worcester Radio three times talking about my running the Marathon for Worcester Cats Protection and I (along with Lucy, my CP rescue cat) appeared in the Worcester News and Berrows Journal, along with the Droitwich Advertiser and Kidderminster Times,  so I think I have flown the flag pretty well for Cats Protection and "Lucy" has done her PR bit too.

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far.   It's not too late to sponsor me if you wish to do so and haven't done  yet, as the Justgiving Page will stay open for three months after the event.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.