Ok - I have finally gone completely mad and now have a place in the London Marathon.

For those of you who know me you know that running is not my forte - but I do give it a go. In my first ever cross-country when I was 8 I came second to last out of a field of about 90 and I haven’t really got much better over the years. Last August I joined Nailsea Running Club although unfortunately due to a few niggling injuries have been unable to train with them as much as I would like.

Since December I have been training hard in order to be able to complete the London Marathon. I am very lucky to have a place with the University of Bristol Cancer Research team. Cancer research is something that is close to my heart and I am sure many of you have been affected by it in some way or another. I am also lucky to be running it for Bristol University as Bristol holds a firm place in my heart, especially having been a postgraduate at Bristol Uni.

I have been completing a training race each month. On December 20th I completed the Weston prom fun run - 5 miles (http://www.westonac.co.uk/promrun.php). True to form, according to the Weston athletic club website I came second to last. I completed it in a time of 53mins 27 supposedly coming 193rd out of 194. However if my memory serves me correctly I actually came last - I do not remember there being anyone behind me and if you wish to check the results you will see the man behind me completed in a time of 83mins 30. As in earlier races he produced a much faster time I do not believe these results - so I am ashamed to admit I came last.

My next race was a much better result. It was the Hangover 10k - again in Weston - on New Year's Day. (http://www.westonac.co.uk/hangover.php). This time I came an amazing 3rd from last - much better than the first race I am sure you will agree. I came 170th out of 172 in a time of 1hour 5mins 48. I was actually quite pleased with this time as in training the week before it had taken me a whole 10 minutes longer to complete the same distance. Position wise I did not do very well but it means I can only get better!!!

On 17th February I completed the tough ten - a 10 mile tough course (funnily enough) in Weston. It started on sand for the first 3/4 of a mile. At 2 miles I was stunned to be faced with a set of stairs to climb. From then on there was a steady incline along the road and into the woods which led to a steeper (nasty) incline. What was really lovely at this point was the knowledge that I was going to have to do that incline again on the second lap. The downhill section was also tricky first time round due to the mass of much faster runners lapping me but second time around I was on my own and able to fly! Anyway it may not look a fast time to others but I was extremely pleased  to come ninth from last (getting better all the time) with my time of 1hour 51mins and 1 second. Hooray :-)(http://www.toughten.co.uk/results/2008/08_all.pdf).

The Bath half-marathon on March 17th has now been and gone. I did say previously that I thought I was going to be prepared for this one but oddly enough having done the most training I have ever done I got my worst result for a half-marathon ever. However due to the number of people running I actually had many finishers after me this time. I came 9030th out of 10054 (http://www.runninghigh.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ne54637). That means an amazing 1024th from last!!!! I am not going to say much else about this one - I did not enjoy it! But that leads on to an extra race I did on Sunday 30th March....

The Hogweed Hilly Half lived up to its name - it was hilly and a half-marathon. Some hills were only just walkable let alone runnable! I did walk up quite a few of the hills and at 8 Miles I would much rather have run the 8 miles back than continue and do the 5 miles forward. However the much promised rain did not materialize and the beautiful sun shining down on to the even more beautiful scenery made this race a joy to take part in. On arrival at the finish line Dad was surprised to see me so early - having seen the good runners come in complaining about how hard the course was he expected me to be another half hour. In actual fact I was only a couple of minutes slower than at Bath although with only 240 runners I did not have the chance to have hundreds of runners slower than me this time and I came 5th from last in 236th place (http://www.hogweedhillyhalf.co.uk/). Two days after the event and I am still having problems walking down stairs as my legs are slightly (well a lot) sore from the hills!

Well I did it!!!! The London Marathon has been and gone. A range of emotions were with me throughout the day, dread, excitement, fear, happiness, relief, exhaustion..... I cannot believe at this moment that in training I only reached 15 miles but on the day I actually managed the 26.2 miles. Five hours and 40 minutes flew by. This time it appears I was 3191st from last and that doesn't include the many none finishers. You could say a massive improvement from my start race when I came last but I also this time had 31100 runners ahead of me! I would recommend anyone to try this at least once in their lifetime. It has been hard work but was really worth it in the end. I am proud of my achievements and thank all of my supporters. Thank you xx

Anyway I hope you will all see that this is a very worthwhile cause and I am sure you will understand how much time and effort I have put into this. So..... thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor me online.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: University of Bristol Cancer Research Marathon Fund will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.