I'VE DONE IT!!!

I can barely believe it, but I've completed the 2009 Flora London Marathon in 3:11:41.  I'm totally extatic with my time!  Thank you all so so much for your sponsorship, support and messages of good-luck.  Hopefully I'll be able to walk again in a few days!  :-)

Previous messages...

On 26th April 2009 I shall be running all 26.2 miles of the Flora London Marathon to raise money for the National Autistic Society.  I've never run a marathon before, but after being in London as a spectator and hearing the stories from other runners, I've been inspired to give it a go, and to try and raise as much as I can for the National Autistic society.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them. People with autism have difficulties with everyday social interaction.

The National Autistic society provide help and support for autistic people of all ages, ranging from specialist teaching facilities for autistic children, to full time care facilities for autistic adults.  In particular, one of the goals of the National Autistic Society is to raise awareness of this often misunderstood disability.  Their "Think differently" campaign aims to change people's opinion's of autism.

As well as raising money by running this marathon, I also want to raise people's awareness of autism, and so I'd like everyone to look at the link below to learn more:

http://www.think-differently.org.uk/

My training has already begun, and between now and the 26th April, I'll be running over 1,000 miles in training alone, most of which will be in the cold dark streets of Cambridge.  I'll try to give regular updates on this page of how my training is going, but so far the furthest I've run is 15 miles in about 2 hours, and I couldn't walk for the next two days!  Clearly some work still to be done!

So please think of me as I'm out running in the freezing cold throughout winter.  I'm sure there'll be many times when I'll want to give up, but if I see a large list of names on this page I'll know that I won't allow myself to let you down, so please give generously to the National Autistic Society and help keep me motivated to get to the finish line!

Update - 18th February 2009

Hi all.  Thank you so much for everyone who's donated so far.  I'm now up to £900!  Woohoo!

I thought I'd give an update as to how my training is going.  I'm now doing an average of around 40 miles a week in training, and that's going to increase as I get closer to the race.  Eek!  If you can forgive the blantent self-obsesiveness, I'm quite impressed that I'm managing to do this, given how much of a couch-potato geek I used to be.  (NB - I'm still a geek, just a slightly more active one!).

I'm glad the snow and ice has gone, as that was no fun to run in!  Doing an hour on a treadmill is equally dull, but at least a lot safer.

Anyway, nine weeks to go!  Just have to make sure I stay injury free.  Thanks again for your donations, it's really spurring me on!