Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

 

As you may know I am running the London marathon this April. I'm very excited as this will be my first London marathon. I remember first watching this event when I was eleven. At that time I had just joined my first athletics club, Dex's Midnight Runners were big at the Disco, I loved florescent socks, Wham, and my hair was so long I could sit on it!!! Yes the year was 1983 and that was when I first dreamed of running a marathon. Since then I've grown older, my hair shorter, and the dream has expanded. It began five years ago when I decided to honour my mum, gran, and Uncle Jim, all of whom were living at the time with Alzheimer's. I trained and raised money for the Alzheimer's Society by completing the Chicago marathon. It was my fifth marathon and the first time that I broke 4 hours. Fast forward two years and I ran the Chicago Marathon again, this time in 3 hours 43 minutes, which qualified me to run the Boston marathon. And so was born a new and slightly crazy goal. I decided to run the World's Five Major Marathons - Chicago, Boston, New York, London, and Berlin - before February 2012 when I turn 40 years old! To date I have run Chicago, Boston, and New York, and plan to run Berlin in September 2011.

And so to the London challenge. As running this race has been a dream since childhood I want to make it special. My sister Pauline and her friends will be supporting me, which I am thrilled about. Unfortunately, mum's Alzheimer's has progressed and she does not really know or recognise too much these days. Her coming to London to watch me run is out of the question but me running to honour her and raise money for the Alzheimer's Society is not. So if you would like to donate thanks. If you already give to charities and one more will make you bankrupt, no worries. Just send me lots of thoughts and prayers on the big day or the night before as most of you will be sleeping while I'm running

 

Race starts at 9am BST 4am EST, 12am AKST Sunday 17th April!

 

My dream is to run 3 hours 15 minutes. For those of you who know of my previous aspiration to get into the Guinness Book of Worlds Record, I will be running in 'normal' running attire, as the official time for fastest marathon run dressed as a vegetable is 3 hours 9 minutes and 21 seconds. Maybe it's time to re-explore the whole running as a fruit idea again!!

 

Thanks so much for supporting me and my crazy running dreams. It really is wonderful to be able to share so many of my experiences with you all.

Cheers
Joanne/Jo/ Joey