I have always known that the Devon Air Ambulance a wonderful team. I doubt that anyone anticipates needing to call on their service. I can share with you that having been airlifted is life changing and life affirming. You join a unique family, all having faced life threatening situations, all helped to survive by the aid granted by this very worthy charity. 

I have wanted to run a marathon since watching the London marathon on television as a child. I always knew that I would one day, but, of course, had not predicted the circumstances! 

The Devon Air Ambulance owns two helicopters and operates seven days a week, responding to approximately 1,400 incidents every year. The Devon Air Ambulance take patients to the hospital most appropriate for their needs; often bypassing the nearest hospital for the correct one is what saves lives, and the speed of the service allows patients to go to where they can be given the best chance of survival. This is what happened for me; I was flown to Derriford hospital for urgent surgery, and that I had. The service costs £5.5million every year to keep the two helicopters flying. Devon Air Ambulance is proud to be independent of Government and National Lottery funding and therefore relies on the generous donations of the people, businesses and communities of Devon to ensure the future of the service. So, you see, we MUST support them. 

I had got a place in the Edinburgh marathon. But I had heard that 2017 is the 50th anniversary of women running marathons officially, a milestone in women's endurance running. I then looked into this and discovered the new marathon in Devon - Women Can. An off-road women only marathon, linked to the 50th anniversary of Kathrine Switzer being the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, helping to pave the way for women worldwide to take up distance running. She entered officially, by only stating her initials, not disclosing that she was a woman. When discovered at the race an official tried to remove her, whilst she was running. He must have felt some remorse for that as he was later very involved in changing the rules to allow women to run officially. A female had run the marathon the previous year, Bobbi Gibb had secretly ran. She had been refused entry on the basis of being female. "This is an AAU Men's Division race only," wrote race director. "Women aren't allowed, and furthermore are not physiologically able." She wore a hooded jumper and her brother's Bermuda shorts, until male runners reassured her that she didn't need to hide her long hair, as they would not allow her to be removed from the race. 

The women's marathon only became an Olympic event in 1984, my birth year. Isn't it absurd to think that before these dates women were deemed incapable of running these distances, and many other things! Don't ever think you're incapable.

We are all capable of different things. We must support those doing roles that we do not. Let us do all we can to support the wonderful Devon Air Ambulance. Please. Please give what you can to enable this wonderful service to continue to help people in desperate need. 

This will be a significant challenge. But I will do it. I was lucky enough to meet Haile Gabrselassie when I ran his 10k run in Addis Ababa in 2013. That was unplanned and untrained for, and I had been quite unwell that week. I will take inspiration from that athlete that I watched as a child; also from Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer, whose courage brought about such positive change. Some pains are good ones. If I know that with every step I am helping the DAAT then the pain is worth it. It means a lot to be running a marathon in Devon, as it is OUR air ambulance that I am running for. I am training on the route and it is beautiful (but gruelling!), making me very proud to be from Devon.

For those that know that I sometimes take on one too many challenges, fear not. The thoughts and nightmares of that awful swim prior to the accident filled me with dread and nausea. I can run, I always could. There will be no time pressure. Thinking of the marathon fills me with joy, it is a good thing.