Hi there,

as you can see, I've finally found courage to go for a marathon :-)

I'm running it to raise money for Isabel Hospice. I would very much appreciate your donation. Hopefully, with your help, I'll reach my target (or even exceed it). Don't forget, every penny counts (and pounds count even better :-)... What really resonates with me is a sentence from the letter that I received from Isabel Hospice after starting my website. It read: "We can't put days into life, but we can put life into days."

I'd like the money to go to Isabel hospice because I think they help people at the time when they need it most. Every time I walked past one of their shops I thought: "Right, what could I do to help?" And then it occured to me; a marathon. Some people believe that everybody has a book in them, I believe that everybody's got a marathon in their legs, you just need to pluck up enough courage (and, let's face it, tons of insanity) and commit yourself to training. It is time consuming, it is gruelling, you put everything else on hold (sometimes I feel I should introduce myself to my husband again, I'm sure he thinks on occasion "who's that slightly familiar looking stranger at the door?")

I know I'll probably run a marathon only this once (I don't think my knees will ever forgive me what I'm putting them through) so I have to make the most of it now, that's why I'm hoping you will make a donation. If you want to wait until I've run the race (September 11, 2010), you can send me an email and pledge how much you are prepared to donate when I finish the race.

And what's the training been like? Mostly hard, but invigorating too. I started back in March, when I could run literally for just five minutes at a time. Then I gradually built up to 30 minutes, soon I was running 5 miles, then 8 miles a session... Now my longest run so far has been 16 miles (so I'm more than halfway through there :-) I run my long runs on Saturday mornings because I need the weekend to recover so that I can start again on Monday. I run four times a week, plus go to the gym three times a week to strengthen my legs (they will need to carry me for just over 26 miles after all). I run in the mornings (which means I have to get up at five to make it to work on time afterwards) and go to the gym after work.

So far, I've clocked in just over 200 miles.

I'm going to update the page weekly, so please come and read up on my progress.

Update (10/08/2010): So, what's been happening so far... I ran 18 miles on Saturday, hopefully a good indication that I can run the race, even though the last couple of miles I could feel tears mixing with the sweat... I have to say that if knees could swear, mine would be quite a rude pair. It's now four days after my longest run so far and walking down the stairs is agonizing. Still, nearly there... It's your generosity and words of support that keep me running, I can't thank you enough.

 

Update (14/09/2010). I thought I would have better news for you but I'm afraid I didn't manage to finish the marathon. I had to pull out at about 33rd kilometre as my left knee couldn't take it anymore. I was devastated as you can imagine but there was really nothing I could do... However, I already started looking for a marathon place next year. After I've given my knees enough rest, I will start training again :-)