Thank you for visiting my fundraising page.

On April 13th 2008 I will be running the Flora London Marathon for the third time in a row!  This year I am running as part of a local team for a local charity - Bedford Hospitals Charity.  Our aim is to raise £50,000 for their Cancer Screening Appeal to help Bedford Hospital replace all existing endoscopy equipment with state-of-the-art instruments which will detect cancer before it gives rise to symptoms and when treatment is most likely to be effective.

We need your help - if everyone can give a little then together we can make a difference!

Please sponsor me online and help make a difference to your local community.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Bedford Hospitals Charity will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Many thanks for your support.

Each week I will post an update on how my training is going and results of any races so you can see my progress and hopefully me nearing my target.  This Sunday 13th January the team will be doing their first long run together of 10 miles, starting at 8.30am (ouch!) from Bromham so if you see us please wave and give a thumbs up!

Sunday group run went well - about 11 miles for me (Garmin battery went dead!) and managed to stay dry.  Followed this with a speed session on tuesday morning before work (!) and club steady run of 7 miles on wednesday night.

Saturday 19th Jan - one of my worst runs ever!  10.3 miles over hills round Riseley area and it was windy and rained for the majority of the time we were out!  Ended up walking 4 or 5 times and felt sluggish the whole route.  Monday 21st Jan needed to get rid of the 'bad run' feeling so up the gym at lunchtime to do a speedy interval (8 x 400m repeats with 200m recovery) session which felt great - what a difference to saturday!  Saturday 26th Jan a good slow 15m run bringing this weeks total to just under 30 miles.

w/c 28th Jan - a good weeks running with some intervals and a 7m steady at club.  saturdays long run ended up a swift 9 miles with me showered and ready to leave to see my son In Oxford by 11am!!  Oh how i love early mornings!!

w/c 4th Feb - 10 weeks to go!  3 gym/treadmill sessions for me this week with a 7.5m tempo at 9:30 pace midweek and 12 miles steady on saturday - out running by 8.30am with frost on the ground and blue sky - perfect!

w/c 11th Feb.  Club run monday just under 7m steady.  wed I was in the gym by 7.20am doing a 10 x 400m repeat interval session.  By 11am my quads and glutes are killing me and i could eat a horse!

sunday 17th Feb - Brighton Half Marathon - 2:05:09, a great run despite the dreadful hill up to the cliff top at miles 10-11.

w/c 18th Feb - gave mondays training a miss as felt totally exhausted.  Wed - a gentle 5.5 miles.  Sunday 16 miles with the charity group including hills and cross country!

w/c 25th feb - monday usual club run 6 miles.  Wed 5.5 miles.  Rest now until MK half marathon on sunday!

Wow where did those weeks go to?!  Completed the MK half at the beginning of march in 2:02 which was a pb for me.  The following weekend I completed my longest and unfortunately last long run of 18 miles.  Just a week later and days before the oakley 20 my back had a nother spasm and I have done little or no training since.  Have now recovered and am going ahead with Sunday but I know that due to being undertrained it will be hard and it will hurt...a lot!!  BUT it will be worth it to raise the funds for this brilliant cause....so please help me make it worthwhile by sponsoring me as generously as you can.  Many many thanks.

Oh and who is willing to make a considerable donation for me to dye my hair pink again and live up to my name? 

I am now as of 10th April officially PINK!!  You won't be able to miss me!  Feeling very nervous but excited and just want to get going now.  Good luck to all my team mates and hope you have a great run!

WOW, what an amazing day that was!!  I barely slept a wink the night before, tossing and turning in my hotel bed, stomach churning.  I finally got up and switched the light on at 4am having realised i had forgotten to pre-order breakfast to my room!  I was in pen 7 at red start and when the gun went off it only took about 10 minutes to cross the start line.  Given the back problem my intention was to start slow and stay slow and just get round.  Followed the plan and was surprised i was still running, albeit slowly, at the half way point.  From there on I did start to feel weary but kept setting myself little goals to keep me going.  Decided to listen to my ipod for a bit at mile 16 which really helped until I reached canary Wharf - this is definitely a favourite few miles for me as the crowd support is just phenomenal.......you certainly feel like a star with your name being screamed every few metres!   Back down the Highway was tough and a bit of a low especially as it started to hail and I was cold and soaked to the skin.  At Tower Hill I had an uplift as I saw my husband and son and I realised it was not far to go.  I walked through the underpass just before mile 24 (or was it just after?!) as did most of those around me except two of my team mates, Karen and Linda, came bounding past and said hi.  That spurred me on again and I was soon on the Embankment with Big ben in the distance.   At just past mile 25 I slowed right down and began to cry - the rain had stopped and the skies cleared and i really didn't want it to be over - I was having the time of my life!  My back was sore and had been niggling since mile 22 and my legs were nearly seized up and i felt like a drowned rat but I just couldn't stop smiling!  I knew when I saw the '800m to go' sign it was nearly over and it was time to give it my all.   Birdcage Walk gets longer every year but as you turn past Buckingham Palace and into The Mall the deafening noise from the crowds spur you on and over the finish line........my time of 5:03:04 a surprising, no, amazing, personal best!  

Thanks to all my supporters on the day and especially the Kier family who raced round London to cheer me on at 5 different points - what stars!   Thanks to all of you who sponsored me to raise all important funds for Bedford Hospitals Charity.