Well I did run and marathon and a half marathon but was unable to take part in the 2023 marathon due to stress fractures in my foot which occurred during training. I had hoped to try for the 2024 event but my amazing 4 month adventure round South Central and North America meant that I could not train effectively - so what next? watch this space but in the meantime I continue to raise money for this amazing cause that literally saved my life (read below) so please give generously - thank you :-) 

Me – running a marathon – I know crazy right !! If you speak to my old Army buddies they will all tell you the same thing, whilst I loved team sports I absolutely hated running – in fact if you talk to my old school friends they will tell you the same thing. The one

(and only) 5 mile cross country run I did at school nearly killed meand my Army BFT (Basic Fitness Test) I just managed to squeezethrough each time. So how at the ripe young age of 50 did I think it was a good idea?? And why have I chosen “Action on Addiction” as my charity of choice? Read on to find our more but first a quick update

I managed to complete the London Landmark half Marathon in 2hrs44 mins despite have post-COVID stuff meaning I couldn’t train for most of march and April – even better is that I managed to raise £1185 beating my target of £500 which as awesome so thank you to those who sponsored me!

I am now about to start training for what I am hoping is my finalmarathon taking place in April next year 2023 – wish me luck I’m hoping to beat my previous time of 6hrs 10 mins – we shall see!

Back when I was on Ward 4 in the Queen ElizabethMilitary Hospital in Woolwich our one NCO staff nurse on the ward who’s name I am ashamed to say I have forgotten (but I never forgot her) was hobbling about at work and I asked her what was wrong – she said she was a bit stiff from running the marathon – I hadn’t heard of the Marathon back then (approx. 1995 give or take a year) and so she explained she had run 26 and half miles the day before. Well I couldn’t believe my ears over 26 miles I could hardly make it round my BFT, to say I was stunned was an understatement, but what I felt was this total feeling of awe, that someone could run that far (and still come to work the next day!) was a bit beyond my comprehension. I remember thinking - god what an achievement if I didn’t hate running so much and was so bad at it, I would love to do that one day – what an achievement. But that was all it was, a thought, that didn’t resurface for another 25 years. But I will never forget my admiration for that lady.

Scroll forward about 23 years and I suddenly acquire adog (there is a point to this I promise) quite unexpectedly. Not havingplanned on being the proud foster Mum of Paddy the adorable black and white pointer collie cross, and already having a pretty full life Ifound myself struggling to find the time to fit an extra hour or soof walking into my day. I had this crazy idea if I ran a bit andwalked a bit it would save me some time, and so my new hobby ofrunning began – very slowly and quite secretly (I only ran when noone else was watching). But after a while (months in fact) I managedto run 3 miles without stopping. By this time my big 50 was loomingover the horizon and I was determined to do something reallychallenging to mark the occasion – prove to myself I could dowhatever I set my mind to – age was no barrier!

That’s when the idea of running the Marathon for charity came into my mind, I remembered the day all those years ago and how I feltwhen the Nurse on the ward told me what she had done. It seemed like the prefect challenge but was it just a bit too much of a challenge?I decided to go for it and if I could get a place, I knew I wouldsomehow find a way to get round all 26 and a half miles. At