**Pls note I'm raising money for both Home-Start Royston & South Cambs and Home-Start UK**

Hi everyone,

I've been saying for years now that I would run a marathon without ever really thinking it would ever happen. However a number of my friends have now done them and I can't have them holding it over me forever. With trepidation in my heart that I entered the ballot for the 2015 race. Having been assured by friends that it took at least 4 or 5 entries to secure a place, I was confident I'd be safe....

Fast forward a few months and I'm now training for my maiden marathon!

To make this a whole heartedly more positive experience, I've decided to support Home-Start (http://www.home-start.org.uk) by calling on you kind souls to donate whatever you can in celebration of 26 miles of pain. As some of you may know, Home-Start is a charity close to my heart. My Mother has been volunteering with Home-Start Royston & South Cambs for a couple of years which has opened my eyes to the wonderful work that they do. For those of you not familiar with Home-Start, they support families with young children to build better lives and provide opportunities for their little ones. They provide one-to-one support for parents in the first five years of a child's life with the aim of providing improved health and well being and better family relationships. Please read through their website for more information as they put is much more succinctly than me.

As with all charities, Home-Start relies heavily on donatons to fund their work. Fund raising is particularly difficult given they are not one of the better known charities so even the smallest amount makes a difference. For every £1 raised, 90p is spent on charitable activities, 8p is invested to generate future income / fundraising and 2p is spent on governance and administration.

On average it only costs £1,000 - £1,200 to support a family for an entire year so I would love to raise this amount if possible to make a tangible difference to a family. 

Given the family connection, I was keen to ensure that Home-Start Royston & South Cambs received at least some of the funds raised. Having spoken to Home-Start UK, they have agreed to ensure that 50% of all donations make their way to Home-Start Royston & South Cambs which I am extremely pleased about.

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. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

If you've got this far, thank you so much! I'm going to start a blog of some sort to document my training (torture routine) if you'd like to follow and hopefully update you on a successul marathon.