Jelly Babies Save the Day

Well, I've completed my 3rd London Marathon and have so far, with your help, raised over £850 for the NSPCC. I'm hoping this will climb to over £1000 before the justgiving site closes.

Many, many thanks to you all for your text and emails of support on Saturday and Sunday, and for your donations to the NSPCC.

Of the three, this was definitely the hardest. I was not as prepared for this one as the previous two and it showed in the second half of the race. On recent form I was hoping for a 4:45 but had to settle, I'm afraid, for 5:04 (just behind Richard Branson as it happens). But the good news is I did finish and at 20 miles I wasn't sure I would. At that stage I was feeling nauseous from the gels, my right foot and both calves were cramping, and I was suffering dizzy spells. I knew I was in a bad way when I found I couldn't run in a straight line and I was finding it hard to catch up with a runner who was walking with a limp. At that point someone in the crowd offered me a jelly baby. I wouldn't normally eat sweets on a run but what had I got to lose? It took away the awful taste in my mouth, so I took some more when they were offered. By mile 22 I had eaten half a bag! And I think they saved the day. I made it to the NSPCC's cheering point at 23 miles where my family was waiting and from there managed to run most of the way to the finish - unbelievably completing the last mile in under 11 minutes overtaking numerous runners. Now that's not fast by normal standards but after 25 mile, I think it's not bad. The only question I now have is, where did Darth Vader come? He and I kept passing each other over the last six miles, but I lost sight of him in the final stages.

I wore a green wig for most of the run and it was amazing how much attention I got from the crowd as a result, and this helped enormously.  It was also great to have my family there cheering me on.  The only disappointment was that Emily, the middle of the three running sisters, wasn't able to be there as she is on her medical elective in Grenada.

If you would like to make a donation to the NSPCC but haven't yet got round to it, please do so now.  You don't have to advertise how much you are giving (so if you have recently won the lottery, your identity will be protected) and I believe you can even be anonymous.

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.