Update:

Well, we did it! Martin and I completed the Manchester marathon together, running hand in hand over the finish line.

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated… would it be cheeky to hope that with a bit more help we might reach £2000? Digging deep for the finishing straight now, so please, if you are able, do help me raise just a little bit more for British Heart Foundation!

I'm running the Manchester Marathon in order to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.

Just after I turned 50, I found myself in the back of an ambulance, being blue-lighted to hospital as paramedics were unsure whether I'd had a heart attack. It was an extremely frightening experience and I was particularly terrified about leaving behind my three children. My paternal grandmother had passed away in middle age to a heart attack, and I remember thinking this at the time.

Fortunately, I discovered my heart was fine but I was informed that if I did not take action to reduce stress and anxiety, it would not be that unlikely that I would find myself back in hospital due to suffering a heart attack or stroke.

It was a sobering realisation to say the least. Since then, I have been undertaking a range of life changes. Last summer, I was at work and I received a message from my husband, who has had a number of health challenges since contracting Covid in 2021. The message simply asked if I would join him to raise money by running the marathon with him. I was with a colleague at the time and we had quite a laugh about it: it seemed like the least likely thing I would be able to do, not having ever run further than 5k and not even that for about five years. However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be an amazing thing to do, both in terms of contributing to a wonderful cause, but also for my own growth and fitness.

So we began our training. It has not been easy. In fact, I've been scared to set up my JustGiving page, but now there are 99 days to go until the marathon, so I'm going for it!

Please support this cause (and me!). Any donation is so very welcome. I will be so grateful and humbled if I am able to reach my target and I promise I will do my very best to cross the finish line, hand in hand with my husband, in Manchester on April 19th!