Wooden Spoon is the children’s charity of rugby, funding life-changing projects across the UK and Ireland to support children and young people with disabilities or facing disadvantage.

Research shows that 1 in 10 children in the UK and Ireland have a disability and there are 3.5 million children in the UK living in poverty. These numbers continue to rise and more and more children need our help.

Our vision is that through the power of rugby, every child and young person has access to the same opportunities.

I’m quite a new runner – having started a little over 2 years ago as a way to lose weight and get fit following news that my sister was heading towards renal failure and may require a familial transplant. She's well on the road to recovery now (thanks Mum) even though things didn't necessarily go to plan, and I have a healthy new hobby. When things get tough in training, it's my sister that keeps me going.

I started out by walking - an effort to hit a daily step target - and figured that if I could run, I could be home sooner. I ran my first 5k without stopping in January 2018 and haven’t looked back since. If you’ve ever run Kingsbury Water parkrun, you’ll likely recognise me as the original “pompom princess”. You’ll also see me running regularly in black and white as part of the pesky BADGER crew although I was fortunate not to be running our 10k in August, marshalling in the heat instead.

I completed my furthest race to date in October, running the Chester Metric Marathon (26.2 km - or about 16.3 miles) in a little over 2hrs 40mins. I'm under no illusion that an imperial marathon will be much more of a challenge and simply hope to finish upright and smiling. 

I'm pleased to be able to run this event for Wooden Spoon - both Nanny and Pappy would have approved of the rugby connection.

Thank you for your support with my London Marathon JustGiving challenge. My page donations will be sent direct to the charity in a fast and secure way. Its efficient, saves time and cuts costs for the charity.