Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As many of you know I walked the 192 mile Coast to Coast path in September 2015 raising £2500 for Sightsavers.

I chose this charity as in 2015 I had laser eye surgery which meant I didn’t have to wear glasses anymore. I realised how lucky I was to have the choice and money to just make a decision and go to have the treatment unlike many others who have to live with their vision impairment.

When I read about A Million Miracles I felt the need to help as much as I could. Sightsavers work is very inspiring.

My Coast to Coast walk was an organised group that I joined with my friend Elizabeth. There were 14 of us in all and we soon became very good friends spending 14 days walking and chatting about anything and everything to while away the long hours across the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors. It was during these chats that 2 people, separate of each other suggested I take up running. I poo pooed them and said I had never even run across the road for a bus and there was no way I could go running but it stuck with me and I kept thinking about it.

When I got home I felt physically and mentally strong after walking 192 miles even though my feet felt like horse’s hooves.

I decided not to let the strength disappear and so I downloaded the app, Couch to 5K, and tentatively started the first 1 minute run that nearly killed me. Soon I was running a bit more every week and eventually I reached the 5K (30 minutes) and I cried. Not from pain but from the sense of achievement.

I quickly decided to down load the app 5k-10k and set off to double my distance over a period of months. Eventually cracking the 10K distance.

At this point I didn’t know if I should continue as I was worried I was too old and would destroy my knees. But my sensible head went out of the window as I downloaded the app 10K-21K and started to work towards the half marathon. I live in Ealing and there is a very good half marathon every year in September which goes right past the front of my house. I usually go out every year to clap the runners past, never dreaming that I would ever be able to do such a thing. (As of September 24th 2017 I have now completed that half marathon in 2 hours and 8 minutes and am very happy with that time for my first effort.)

I then received an email from Margaret (one of the ladies who was on the coast to Coast walk) to say that her friend Karen was going to be running in the London Marathon in April 2017 for charity and would we consider sponsoring her. Karen was very special to us, she was not just any old friend of Margaret, she went out of her way to drive across the UK with a box of homemade chocolate brownies and a bottle of fizz for us all on our last day. She met us in a small village about 2 hours walk from Robin Hood’s Bay (our final destination) with the brownies to share out amongst us to give us all a chocolate boost and then drove on to Robin Hood’s Bay with the fizz and shared it all out with a glass for each of us to celebrate our wonderful achievement as we dipped our toes in the water. What a wonderful friend.

Of course, I sponsored Karen, after all, one good turn deserves another even after one and a half years had gone by. I then spent all of Sunday morning trying to spot her on TV in the marathon. It was at this point that I decided I could do this. I could run that marathon too as I watched everyone running the course. So here I am with a place and am absolutely petrified, what have I done? But I WILL do this and hope to raise a good sum for Sightsavers and all those eyesights that will be restored to people who have lost hope.

I hated sports at school and was always useless. Sports day was my biggest nightmare as I ran around hurdles and under the high jump and would hide in the toilets. Who would think that in my 60th year I would attempt to do such a thing as run the London marathon? I wish my teachers could see me now.

Last year I ran in my first ever race, the Osterley 10K. it was 26 degrees that morning but I completed it in literally seconds over the hour and I was the proud owner of my first ever running medal. (I went to bed in it that night and woke up with the medal part under my armpit ) I have since hung it up to remind me of what i can achieve when I decide to do something. My Ealing Half marathon was run in 20 degrees and full sunshine but I completed it and now have a second medal which I also wore to bed that night!! I can feel a tradition starting here.

At the beginning of February I also completed, with a personal best of 57 minutes, the London Winter 10k run with 20,000 other people, starting in Trafalgar Square and running basically to St Paul's and back round the streets of London. It was freezing cold but so much fun and honestly, I felt like I would have liked to turn round and do it all again when I got to the end. I wanted to experience what it was like to run with so many people in London before the big MARATHON day.

I have now completed the hottest London marathon on record, 24.1 degrees officially, in a time I am really chuffed with, 4:59:17, a fraction under the 5 hour mark. It was challenging and hot but I was well trained (I had run 419 miles during the previous 5 months), well fuelled thanks to my lovely Craig and well hydrated due to no alcohol at all for at least a month before. I felt strong and determined and when it got tough around 23-24 miles I gave myself a good talking to and ran on to get over the line in just under the 5 hours which was my aim. 

I love my medal, its heavy and bears all the weight of the effort involved to obtain it. I will never forget that day for the rest of my life, I ran with a massive smile most of the way. Apologies in advance if you still see me wearing my medal now and again but I am chuffed to bits with it :)

I am now an official marathoner at the age of 59 and a half!!! xxx

I wrote a blog about my Coast to Coast walk if you want to read about my effort. How did I know that it would be the start of something much larger?

http://lozandherboots.blogspot.co.uk/

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.