I’ll be totally honest.....I 100% forgot I’d entered the ballot. I’m not even sure why I did. I think I probably saw the stats on the likelihood to get a place, (about 1 in 25 ballot entries got a place) and I figured there was no harm.....or chance.

When my ultra-marathon-running husband, John, (who literally runs marathons for fun!) got his “sorry, not this time” letter from Virgin, I offered a sympathetic shoulder pat and carried on with my day, blissfully forgetting my own entry. So when I received my “You’re in!” letter the following week, 2 words immediately popped into my head. The first was “oh”, and I’ll let you decide the second......(it was definitely “crikey” Mom & Dad if you’re reading this).

Knowing the extremely slim chance of getting in, I found it very difficult to think of a good enough and genuine reason to decline the place despite my total inexperience in long distance running. I’d just completed the Wolverhampton half marathon which was my greatest physical achievement thus far (after giving birth....obvs....) and if you’d told me I was only half way through the course after those 13.1 miles, I’d have thrown in the towel. It was SO tough and I know this will literally be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But both physically and mentally I’m up for the challenge. 26.2 miles. Wowser....

So, if I’m doing this, I want to do some good. Pay it forward. I’ve chosen to fundraise for WaterAid because I believe clean, safe water should be available to every single person on this planet. How often do you taken water for granted? Leave the tap running too long, boil more than you need, not finish a glass of water and throw it away? I’m certainly guilty of all of the above but so many people don’t have the luxury of clean water and it costs lives and creates squalid living conditions. So anything I can do to help bring water to those without is a good thing.

Please please please support in any way you can. I am so grateful for any support, whether it’s a donation (obvs), offering to accompany me on a training run (you have no idea how grateful I am to those who have offered!) or standing on the sidelines offering me Jaffa cakes and fruit pastilles in London on 26th April.....I’ll be forever grateful. 

Let’s do this. Here’s to taps and toilets.....