I know some of you are already shocked at the out of character revelation that I am doing a marathon walk in late May! I am always the exercise-phobic armchair supporter to crazy friends and colleagues doing stuff like this and happily get out my credit card to fight off the guilt of sitting tight, but this time I somehow agreed to take part – 26 miles from home in Moulsford to the White horse at Uffington – across the beautiful Chiltern Hills, via the Ridgeway.

The training has been going on for a few weeks now, sometimes with the official team, sometimes with Nate on my back and sometimes with some good girlfriends and the babes in the buggies – we did 10 miles yesterday (longest so far) which brings my total this week to 29 miles. The weather has been so lovely and scenery so beautiful it has surprisingly been really enjoyable and good fun, hopefully this will continue as the training miles (and not the blisters!) increase over the next few weeks.

I’m really excited about raising money to make a difference for two important causes - Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Seesaw (Oxfordshire’s child bereavement support charity). It would be amazing and highly motivational to reach my fundraising target and be able to contribute towards the work that these amazing organisations do. What’s even better is that Microsoft will match the total that I raise and that too will go straight to the charities, so please dig deep!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate -we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you so much,

Gemma

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