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My beautiful sister died in January of this year of  cancer.  She lived in Switzerland and although her care towards the end of her life was brilliant the nurses there talked of our Macmillan  nurses and said how wonderful the system we had in the UK was. Macmillan nurses are the envy of the world as is our hospice care system. 

Wendy was a runner. She ran marathons, half marathons and I ran 10k’s with her whilst she was undergoing treatment. She always encouraged me to go that little bit further and once when we had met in Geneva to run I had asked her whether I could do a half marathon. She told me to get signed up and so I did. The first was Redcar, then the Great North Run but I have never run the full marathon. I had supported Wendy whilst she ran the London Marathon and also the Jungfrau Marathon which is one of the toughest in the world.

On one of my last visits to see Wendy we talked at great length about all her achievements and I promised her I would run a marathon for her. She knew then she was never going to be able to leave hospital. So when I promise my sister something I have to do it. 

I applied for London hoping I could run in her footsteps but didn’t get a place so as we often met in York and have also run in York together that was a good second choice.

So now with the help of my running buddies at Scarborough Athletic Club my training has started. 16 weeks to go. 

I miss my sister dreadfully but she is with me every time I run and I am sure she will be there with me on the day shouting encouragement from the sidelines . 

She was and is my hero and always will be . 

I love you Wendy, my big sis.

Xxxxx