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Since I started running 5 years ago, I’ve toyed with the idea of running the London Marathon. I always knew that I would love the satisfaction of completing such a challenge, but with only having ever run a 10k, a full marathon seemed like maybe too much of a jump.
But it’s a jump I’m taking!  On 17th April, I’ll be running the Virgin London Marathon with my friend Emma. She’s a fitness instructor & personal trainer, which I’m sure will come in very useful when I’m trying to keep on track with the gruelling training schedule.

I’m running to raise money for FSID (Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths). When I was little, I lost a little sister to cot death, so when Emma and I decided to apply for places on the Marathon, FSID was the only charity I thought about running for.

Cot death claims the lives of more babies than meningitis, all forms of cancer and accidents put together.  On average, 10 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every week in the UK.  FSID helps in many ways, including funding research, supporting families and disseminating information to health professionals & the general public.

Every penny will help towards the incredible work FSID do and every penny will help Emma and I reach our combined target of £3,000.

Emma is running for The Miscarriage Association, if you'd like to sponsor her too, please go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/EmmaBone

We have lots of ideas for how to reach our fundraising target, so please keep coming back here to find out what we’re planning and also how our training is going.

Thank you so much for your donation, I really appreciate you helping me raise money for this worthwhile charity that is so close to my heart.  Every donation helps, thank you!

Nicola
xxx

 

August:     Official marathon training won’t start til after Xmas so that gives me between now & then to get as fit as possible!    Also gives us time to concentrate on fundraising in the next few months.  I'd like to thank the people of Fenwick for their generosity in helping to fill our collecting cans around the village.  Plans are well underway for our Ladies Night Fundraiser on 2^nd October.  We're hoping to make about half of our fundraising target on this night, which would be fantastic.  Still lots to go though, so I really appreciate every penny that you donate here.   Thank you. xx

October:     Ladies Night was such a huge success!  Thanks so much to everyone who helped out & everyone who came along.  Our total so far from the night is £2511.40, which means  £1255.70 for each of our charities, & there’s still a bit more to come in. 

That's my minimum amount raised now, but obviously the more I can raise the better, so thank you so much for reading this & for donating.

That's the fundraising in hand - now we just have to run a marathon!   xx

February:  About halfway through my training now & it's going really well.  Completed a half marathon distance and also my wettest run in 5 years of running - as you can see in the photo - though that's as much because of the enormous puddle that a car drenched us with, as much as the pouring rain that night! :0) It looks like our marathon finish time is going to be a lot slower than we'd hoped, but I'm realising that's not too important really - as long as we finish, we'll be happy.  (and if we finish in a good time, we'll just be happier.)  The increase from 10k to half marathon has been pretty painless really, here's hoping half to full goes as well.

2pm on 3^rd April:  2 weeks from now & we’ll hopefully be nearing the finish line, how exciting!  The last half of our training went as well as the first half really.  A couple of our runs included a bit of unexpected cross country, although that shouldn’t have come as too  much of a surprise really - having run with Emma for the last 5 years!  All the midweek hills & speedwork paid off & we’ve managed to increase our speed on our long runs. Neither of us sustained any serious injuries, although we both caught a wee bug in the last week which meant we didn’t get to run our last long run, of 20 miles.  We only got as far as 18.5, but I’m sure that’ll be enough to see us through on the day.  I’ll put another update on here after the big day & will include our finish time (if I’m happy with it!)

 

We did it!  I’ve run the London Marathon, & have a fab medal to prove it.  Said medal also got us a very welcomed free massage at Heathrow this morning.  It was such an amazing day yesterday.  The 1st couple of miles were great but then the sun came out,  it got really hot & I started to struggle.  With Emma’s help I made it through the 1^st half & thankfully it cooled down a bit & I loved the 2^nd half.  We had a few wee walks but ran most of it, sometimes at times when everyone around us was walking - which was great. 

The support from the crowds was absolutely fantastic, especially as I had my name on my vest & was getting spurred on the whole way round.  The spectating children were so cute - giving out sweets & wanting hi-5’s.  We were still chatting & smiling by the end & laughing about how funny we must look - running when every muscle in our bodies ached as much as they did, it couldn’t have been a pretty sight, but gave us a giggle – one of many along the way. 

Everyone’s asking about our time.  Well it was over an hour slower than I’d wanted, at 6hrs 2 mins, but there was a couple of times in that first half when I worried I might finish my marathon adventure with the St John’s ambulance people, so I’m happy just to have finished.  No really, I am!   

At this moment, the highs of yesterday outweigh the lows and all the time & efforts of the training plan, so I would definitely recommend running the London Marathon to anyone – only once though! 

 Thanks again for all your support & donations

xxx