What on earth am I thinking?

At nearly 60, overweight and a bag of medical conditions, I am committed to taking part in the 2026 London Marathon. I am under no illusion of the scale of this task and my longest training "run" in recent weeks has been 6km..... a mere 38 to go then!

The back story - Having completed the Couch to 5k in April 2024 I applied for a place in the London Marathon on a whim - only to secure a ballot place....apparently the equivalent of winning the lottery and I think I may have preferred the later!!

As a ballot entry I got to choose which charity to support - after a lot of reading and soul searching I made my decision to support Samaritans. Whilst learning about the charity I then took the step to become a Samaritan Listener, a role I am extremely proud of. I can not tell you how wonderful each of these volunteers are - just truly kind and generous human beings.

Fast forward to early 2025 and a series infections, ailments and illnesses forced a postponement of the marathon plans. To be frank 2026 hasn't been much kinder but I will/can not postpone again.

So here I am with less than 3 weeks to go and absolutely terrified!! Having raised my target for Samaritans Central, I am asking that any last minute sponsorship is donated directly to Winchester - which is now my branch.

Thank you for reading and anything you can spare will be gratefully received.