We all have a person who inspires us. It could be someone famous or if we are very lucky it could be a friend. I had a friend who did that. Her name was Ally. Ally was many things to me; a friend; a mentor; the best running partner I've ever had!

In October 2006 we both ran the Great South Run. Something which we both knew would be a challenge. Despite training together for months, sadly, on the day, we couldn't find one another at the beginning of the race so ended up running separately. We both completed it, with Ally beating my time by a good 5 minutes!

After the race our busy lives kind of took over, Ally taking on Headship and me starting my teacher training and no matter how many times we texted or said 'When are you free for a run?' we never seemed to manage it. Sadly, on 14th April this year Ally was taken from us unexpectedly.

Wanting to keep Ally in our thoughts, and giving her a laugh at the same time, I have decided to not only run the Great South Run this year but also to add two other 10 mile races to my challenge. They are the Wimborne 10 and the Lytchett 10, both hillier and progressively harder races. I want to raise as much money as possible for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, a charity which Ally also supported. I am delighted that Brendan (Ally's husband) has given his blessing to my challenge and choice of charity.

Your help and support in raising money for The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance in memory of Ally is greatly appreciated and I will update this page with photos and news of how I am getting on. Please feel free to share this page with anyone who knew Ally or knows me!

The dates of my races are:

The Great South Run - Sunday 27th October 2013

The Wimborne 10 - 17th November 2013

The Lytchett 10 - February 2014 (exact date TBC)

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

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