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A close friend of mine, Detrice, was diagnosed with breast cancer just before Christmas in 2014. It knocked me for 6. I was in a very fortunate position at that point to have not been directly affected by breast cancer before so to hear this news was devastating. She is a young mum with 2 kids under 6. What made it harder was that we live over 200 miles apart so I couldn't even hug her. She coped so amazingly well, kept so incredibly positive and then starting writing the most beautiful blog about her experiences. Each blog post made me sob as I felt so helpless. She went on to have surgery then chemo. She kept her beautiful hair which was a miracle. She has since had the all clear which is another miracle and she has continued to write her blog (https://detricematthews.wordpress.com/).

Then just before Christmas 2015, a school mum friend of mine, Jennifer, was also diagnosed with breast cancer. This woman is another absolute inspiration. She sadly lost her baby boy Taylor to meningitis a few years ago and was now facing cancer. How unfair the world is. But instead of letting this beat her, one of the first things she did after her mastectomy and during the start of her chemo was start fundraising. One of her fundraising events was a sponsored head shave. Her philosophy was that she would dictate when she'd lose her hair, not the cancer!! It was an incredibly uplifting but emotional night and she looked amazing with her shaved head!! She raised just under £2,000 for Breast Cancer Now. She has just completed her final chemo session.

So, these two women have been an utter inspiration to me and have fought so bravely against this hideous disease and have both come out the other side with such dignity. I don't know if I could promise to do the same. But, I want to do something and raising money for Cancer Research UK would give me the opportunity to give something back.

I'd also like to tell you a bit about me. I turned 39 last October and realised it was now or never to get myself fit and fabulous before I turned 40. I was very overweight (I think the technical term is morbidly obese), very unfit and not very happy about it. So, I joined Slimming World and I went along to my local parkrun. That first 5km run (well, 80% walk/20% run) was one of the hardest things I had ever done but gradually, as I started running a few times a week I started to enjoy it, get quicker, run further and within a few weeks I ran the whole 5km parkrun without walking!! To date I've also managed to knock over 11 minutes off my PB. I've also lost nearly 4 stone so far, as well losing over 20 inches across my boobs, hips and waist!! My friend who I mentioned above also inspired me to start my own blog to capture my progress as I headed ever closer to my 40th (https://runjenerun.wordpress.com/)!!

Since then the big 40th has happened, I've run in competitive 10km races and now I have a place in the London marathon which quite frankly is ridiculous considering I haven't yet been running for a year. So, if you can spare a bit of cash to spur me on to run 26.2 miles (eeek!!) then I would be so incredibly grateful if you would sponsor me and be sure to tune in on 23rd April to watch the coverage - I'll be the one in the giraffe costume!! Jenny x