I made it!  I finished the New York City Marathon in 4 hours 41 minutes and a few seconds.

 

If you haven't sponsored me and would still like to, now is your last chance.  I'll be closing this page at Christmas, so get your festive donations in quickly. 

In November 2008, 2 things happened:

1)  I applied for a charity place in the New York Marathon to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK. Why? Well my first key memory of a running event is of my dad competing in the 1982 London Marathon. I sat and watched the entire television coverage expecting to see dad running on the TV. I had no idea what 10,000 people running looked like and I was devastated when I couldn't pick him out from the running crowd. But then I was just 6 years old. So, 26 years later, I wanted to give him the chance to try and find me.

2) Dad was re-diagnosed with cancers secondary to the original bowel cancer he fought for the last 10 years.  He put up a fantastic fight, but in the end he died peacefully on February 27th surrounded by his close family.

Bowel cancer is the 3rd most common cancer in the UK. Every year, over 35,000 people are diagnosed with the disease: that's someone every 15 minutes. It is also the 2nd most common cause of cancer death in the UK. Each year, nearly 16,000 people die from the disease: that's someone every 30 minutes. So, in the 4 and a half hours that I hope it will take me to run the New York marathon, 9 people in the UK will die from bowel cancer, which means 9 families will feel as devastated as we do right now.

Please help me to raise much needed funds for Bowel Cancer UK. I'm looking forward to my challenge. I've never been to New York before and I've certainly never run a marathon - when I started this my best was 6 miles so I've a long way to go!  

UPDATE: on 5 April I ran my first half marathon.  It was a spur of the moment decision to take part, and I finished in 2 hours and 8 minutes, so bring on the full distance.

UPDATE (12 Sept): It's now 7 weeks until the big day, and I've managed a couple of 16 mile runs.  But tomorrow I'm aiming for 20 miles, so wish me good luck.  I now have about 250 miles of training between me and the start line on Staten Island NY.  I can't wait, and strange as it might seem, I'm looking forward to every one of those 250 miles.

People's generosity so far has overwhelmed me, I've now exceeded my original target of £1500, my revised target of £2000, and now I'm heading for a new target of £3000.

I hope you'll follow my progress and keep track of me via this website.

That's it for now, please stay tuned.

Lyndsey

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Bowel Cancer UK gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

So please sponsor me now!