Three...Two..One...GO!!!!

Last one to the Mall cleans up

My dear friends and supporters, the day is upon us. The last training run has been completed, the suitcases are packed and the taxi is on route. In 48 hours I will be safely enclosed in the red start area waiting for the off. I believe the only words that I can use to describe how I am feeling are

LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am ready. I have carb loaded, drunk lots of water, gone to bed early, and now I cant wait. This afternoon I will go to the London Marathon Expo and pick up my number, and then there will be nothing left to do but kick back, sight see, and drain London of carbs. Last year I travelled down to London feeling a failure, having pulled out. I cried when I saw the barriers out at London Bridge, and again when I watched the runners on the Embankment from the London Eye. I told myself next year would be my  year, but if I'm honest, I didn't believe it. I thought I would fail again. Well what a difference a year has made. I know Sunday will hurt, and I would be fool hardy if I wasn't a little nervous, but I KNOW I can do it. I have trained as much as any full time doctor with three kids can do, I have paid attention to my nutrition, and I have stretched properly. I have also let go of the ridiculous notion that I am only a valid marathon runner if I can run a marathon in less than four hours, SOD THAT!. A six hour marathon is the same distance as a two and a half hour marathon, and every bit as awesome an achievement. I do have a time in mind, and will be seeking out the runners world pacer, but you know what, if I pull something, feel unwell or tire in the heat, I will not give a flying fiddle if I have to slow down to get round. What ever the time on the overhead banner at the finish, I will still have made it to the end, and will have a London Marathon Medal for my collection and that means everything to me. A sweet time would just be the icing on the cake!

This has been a big week for Team Little Legs. Caroline and Nick immortalised us in Lego, and Tommy's very kindly asked me to write for them about why I am running for them and published the blog on their website. Caroline and Nick have taken time out of what I know is an insane schedule to help me meet my target and you know what..we smashed it!! This really does make a huge difference and if I was feeling good before, I currently feel so amazing that I could be convinced I was headed for the win! Honestly, Mo who? Last night there was a cascade of good will messages, donations and emails that honestly left me feeling overwhelmed. It takes a lot to make me cry, but I sat at my computer and sobbed as I passed the £3000 mark. Team Tommy's have 130 runners on Sunday, and in the last 24 hours we have stated sending a group round robin email with good luck messages and a little bit about why we are running. These messages are heart breaking, heart warming and inspirational in equal measure, and have solidified my resolve that I am running for a truly awesome cause.

Before I sign off and alight the train (first class baby, cause I'm worth it!) can I just say a very big, very sincere thank you. Thank you for following me for two years, thank you for your sponsorship, thank you for your kind words and support. There will be more thank yous in what will probably be my last post next week, but in the meantime here's a hug

Taxi's here, no more blogs now until after the race but I will update you via twitter with lots of photo's, pre race build up and let you know how I get on after the race. Let me finish by saying this;

Be fast Mo, be swift, cause I'm gonna be right behind you!

GO TEAM TOMMYS!!!!!!!!!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelMarsden1

Ten Things Marathon Training Has Taught Me

Team Little Leg is in Reflective Mood



In a bid to persuade you to part with your hard earned cash I am about to impart the ten pieces of wisdom that Marathon Training has taught me.


1. 26.2 Miles is VERY long way
They all make it look so easy as they saunter down the Mall, however, the sheer reality is that if I left ponds forge and ran along the park way and turned left up the M1 I would reach Junction 39, past Woolley edge services before I had finished a marathon, and if I turned right down the M1 I would reach halfway between Junction 29 and Junction 28.


2.The Marathon is going to hurt, ALOT!
It is not easy, and no matter how well I train and prepare, this is going to hurt. I need to accept that. I got round in October, despite no-where near enough long runs and base training. Its going to hurt, but then 26.2miles was always going to.


3.If you must do a marathon, do an autumn one
I am about to become a veteran of two marathons, the first was an autumn, meaning that most of my training was done on warm sunny days and my longest runs in crisp autumnal sunshine (remember the Royal Parks Half Sonia? Glorious). This spring marathon has led to training in late autumn, miserable dark winter and very blustery early spring. Brrrrrr Splosh!


4. I would rather run in heavy rain than in high winds
After many hours of extensive research (like I said, spring marathon)  I can say with confidence that given a choice I would take being wet over being blown over. You see, you can only get so wet before eventually it makes no difference. However, in the wind you are buffeted, blown of your feet, pushed backwards, have to dodge obstacles and are thoroughly miserable.


5.The British Weather Hates Me
I was given many opportunities to find out which weather is the most unpleasant to run in. I have run in wind, hail, snow, and pouring rain and it always seems to wait until my long run day, or until I leave home. My husband took this picture of me after my Thursday five miler because I looked like a drowned rat.

The look on my face says it all

6.The countryside around Sheffield is Beautiful
Seriously, its gorgeous and I have been treated to simply breath-taking scenery. During one particular drudging cold run I was in the hills above Sheffield and starting to flag, but was cured with one quick glance to the right which saw me treated to a panoramic view over Sheffield and Derbyshire that could rival any view all over the world. It has made me appreciate how lucky I am to live in Sheffield, I live within a 20 minute run of four inner city parks, within a ten minute run of acres of woodland, and within half an hour of leaving my front door I am in open countryside and all it has to offer. Makes running for three hours that little bit more bearable!


7. I am not a natural athlete
This is not a bad thing, just a necessary realisation. I an never going to be someone who runs marathons in under four hours. I am never going to run a sub 50 min 10k or a sub 20min 5k. I am a plodder and there is nothing wrong with that. Once I accepted that fact I stopped dropping my head in shame as athletic runners stream past me, I now hold my head up high and think, at least I am giving it a go.


8.The secret is to just keep going
 Your legs will reach a point when they will scream at you to stop. They will beg you to give it up. Don't listen. You can do it, you have done it before, you have prepared. You are strong, the pain will pass, focus on whatever you need to to get you through and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. You'll get there, just keep running, just keep running...

9. A Marathon Runner is only as good as their entourage, and mine's amazing!
My daughters Rebecca and Evie act as my cheerleading squad and frequently tell me how impressed they are by the distances I can cover. If you chatted to Evie, you would think I was in with a shot at the win! Evie turned to me when I was in the ice bath and said "your very brave mummy, I think your the best mummy ever" and she is forever acting as my little fan club. Rebecca presented me with a certificate made at Girls Brigade for being the best role model, and when asked why she chose me she just shrugged in that pre-teen way and said "I'd be hard pressed to find a better one wouldn't I?"

My friends have also been so kind and said some lovely things. They have come to my events and bought my cakes, they have been so generous with  both their time and their sponsorship, have picked me up from strange locations and have given me truly lovely encouraging messages. These mean the world to me and will honestly keep me going when my legs want to stop. I want to finish on uncharacteristic soppy note and say thank you to my husband. We have busy lives, I work 48 hours a week on average, Chris works 40, and we have three children. The only way I have been able to fit in the six hours a week required for my training is down to him doing extra bedtimes, cooking teas and entertaining bored children while mummy is of on yet another run. He has been my chauffeur, coach, nutritionist and sports masseuse and I love him loads, and promise him I will NEVER do this again!


10. My cause is a worthy one
There have been times when my training has nearly broken me and on some occasions I have even looked quite unwell after runs. My husband has been concerned enough at times to suggest taking time off. The reason I don't is because those who I am raising money to support don't get a day off. The parents of premature babies have to sit by the incubator every day wondering if this will be the day their little one loses the insurmountable battle their tiny body faces just to survive. Those whose little ones make it have to confront the myriad of problems premature babies face on a daily basis.
Then there is Caroline and Nick, and the thousands of others who have lost a baby either at or before birth. They will always miss their child, they will always mark birthdays or anniversaries with sadness, or look at children who would have been born around the same time as their lost little one should have been and think, what if? They have to go every through day being strong and keeping it together for themselves, each other, and the families that they may happily have gained or already had. Some stories have happy endings, I consider Indianna the ultimate in happy endings, but some don't, and they never get to know the sheer joy that I have every time I see my girls. It is for this reason that I will see this through to the end. The thought that they don't get a day off is what gets me strapping on my trainers and going out into the rain.

Marathon training has taught me that sometimes you can feel like giving up, you can feel broken and defeated and like you just cant go on, but you can, just keep putting one foot in front of the other and before you now it your through the worst. It doesn't matter what life (or the weather) throws at you, you can do it.  I am so close to the end now, and today on facebook I saw my medal for the first time, in 12 days I will have me one of these.

Thank you once again for taking the time to read my blog, and you can sponsor me at

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelMarsden1

I love you all, thank you so much x

The Final Push!

Rachel to base camp...I can see the summit!!!!

So my friends, I seem to find myself in the strange position of being less than three weeks away from a marathon. How did that happen? Ah, yes I remember, just under two years ago I watched all those thousands of people on the mall making to look easy and I thought, why not? and just for good measure I'll raise some cash into the bargain.

Yesterday I did my final long training run. The picture above shows me in an ice bath, a desperate measure to help my poor aching muscles, who alas are suffering from the high mileage. I'm not sure I needed to bother however, as whilst running to the owler bar roundabout in the hills above Sheffield, I was treated to a hale storm of biblical proportions. I had planned to do twenty one miles, but a combination of hills, poor weather and sheer fatigue led me to cut the run short at just over nineteen miles. I am so very very tired. The reality of fitting marathon training around being a full time doctor and mum of three is daunting, and to be honest, I am bloody proud of myself. I haven't had the time to do any extra fund raising events, and this makes me feel very guilty, especially when I receive Team Tommy's updates and see the staggering amounts raised by my team mates.  I will try and raise extra funds after the race, however, for the time being I have to use all my energies on getting round in one piece!

So I now enter the Taper. This for non runners is the slow process of reducing mileage to prepare the body for the sheer challenge that awaits it. My long run next week is only 12 miles, the week after only six. Yes, you did read right, I said only 12 miles. Marathon training does strange things to you, it messes with your distance perception. My good friend Sonia (currently training for the Paris marathon) and I laugh at how we find ourselves doing half marathons on a weekly basis and these are our shorter runs. A year ago the distance was a big ask. Like I said, I am proud of my body, and what it allows me to do. I am trying to help it as much as I can, I have lost half a stone, am stretching every night and aim to use the extra time from reduced mileage to do some strength training. I have booked a sports massage at a local physio for three days before the marathon, and I have got some treatment for my niggles that are appearing on a daily basis.

I almost felt ashamed when I wrote above that I only managed nineteen miles, but hey, I RAN NINETEEN MILES! I got up, had breakfast, put on my trainers and ran nineteen mile in 3 hrs and 26 mins. Yes it hurt, but I did it, and I kept going no matter what the British weather threw at me. So while I sit back and enjoy the taper, I would be really grateful if you could make it all worth while by helping me reach my £3000 target. I am about £500 away, so every penny really counts.

Thank you as ever.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelMarsden1

The Runners came in two by two....

There's no such thing as bad weather..just inappropriate clothing


First my lovely readers a heart felt apology, I have been a bad blogger and I haven't kept in touch. I didn't even let you know how I went on in my first ever marathon! Well allow me to fill you in..

I finished, it hurt, I ate huuuge amounts of pizza afterwards.

I should probably elaborate more than that. I sat alone at breakfast at six thirty, surrounded by fellow runners and unable to eat a thing. I caught the bus and sat listening to all the other excited runners trying not to vomit. I got to the start line with only one thought in my head, "I am not ready for this" and you know what, I wasn't.

 Although it started well with a lovely run through York, my parents and the minster bells seeing me through the city, I started to get in trouble by mile 11 (not a good sign), by mile 15 I was ready to cry and by mile 19 if you had offered me a bus home I would not only have taken it, but asked for a phone so I could ring Tommy's and tell them where to stick my London Marathon Entry Form!!!

Thankfully neither a bus or a phone was available to me, so I kept on running. Then a few things happened to save me and my battered morale, first, a hill. Now you would think a hill would be the last thing that tired legs would want to face, but for a girl who had done most of her training in Sheffield, a hill was just what the doctor ordered. My I-phone shuffle mode took it upon itself to be my mind coach, with songs such as Don't Stop Believing by Journey, and Eye of the Tiger, and finally I made it to mile 23 and my mind went, 5k left, we can do 5K! That 5k actually turned out to be the fastest of the Marathon and I practically danced up the final hill to the university. I sprinted over the line in  4hrs and 57 mins.

I had so many plans on what I would do on the finish line, perhaps the Y as suggested by the website, maybe a joyous punching of the air or even the mo-bot. What actually happened was I crossed the line and shouted "thank god that's over" so loudly that one of the St Johns Ambulance men scurried over to check I was ok. I hobbled to get my medal and immediately put it and the t-shirt on, I had earned them!!! My lovely mum and dad were waiting for me at the finish, and I was also re-united with my husband, who not only gave me a much needed rub down but also came armed with four Cadbury's Boost Bars, two of which were gone in very quick succession!

 

 

Well then, one down, one to go. Today I sit here in the new Team Little Legs HQ (we moved four days before Christmas!) with my training schedule in front of me. At the time of writing we are 2 months and 12 hours from the off, and my training is going fair to middlin. I am training with somewhat more conviction this time round, it would be nice if miles 12 through 23 could not be quite as harrowing as they were in York. I am having to stick to a beginners schedule, more so I can make sure I can complete all the runs. I am still a full time doctor with three children, so time is very precious. I have taken to running both before and after work some days in order to ensure I fit in all the miles my schedule calls for without depriving myself of too much family time. I am seeing some results, but my 15 mile run on Sunday still hurt like holy hell!! I am even running in the rain, which is something I avoided before. Every time I think of skipping a run, I recall how heartbroken I felt as I headed for mile 17 genuinely believing I wouldn't make it round. That feeling soon has me reaching for the trainers and adding another waterproof layer.

 

I often find myself thinking of the genius Billy Connolly line, there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. Well with that thought in mind tomorrow morning before work come rain or shine  I will run five miles, and rest assured, my clothes will be very appropriate, now, where's my wetsuit?

Anyone got a banana??

Can Rachel tame her inner chimp before Sunday?


So here we are, 38 hours before the start of my first full marathon, and I am FREAKING OUT!!!!!! I have found that negative thoughts and feelings have been creeping in a lot during the last few training runs, to the point that I had seriously considered pulling out of Sundays Yorkshire Marathon. I had entered in secret, and didn't tell a lot of people that I was doing it, so it would have been very easy. No shame, no recrimination. However a little voice in the back of my head kept insisting, you can do it, you know you can. When I ran the simply glorious Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago I ran at a nice slow leisurely pace and honestly felt that I a good few miles in the legs left at the end of the race. So how could I silence the voice in my head that was saying don't do it , your insane, ooh cake etc etc.

I decided to finally get round to reading the Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters. To fellow Sheffield Medical Graduates he is the undergraduate dean who spent most of his lectures telling us "your all going to be doctors" and "I am not your dad"(right on both counts there Steve!), to everyone else he is the sports psychologist behind the success of the British cycling team. His premis is simple, in your head there are two distinct entities, the human; logical, pragmatic and responsible for the person you are and who you want to be, and the chimp; emotional, paranoid, irrational and responsible for making sure your survive long enough in the jungle to produce offspring. The chimp is the negative being, overcautious and makes decisions based on feelings and assumptions. Its the voice in your head that tells you you cant do something, senses danger when there is none and generally gets up to all sorts of nonsense if you don't keep it in check. The human is the logical rational part of you, but it is weaker than the chimp, so you need to manage your chimp so your inner human can break out. It would seem therefore that I have a very healthy chimp.

While rational Rachel tries to offer encouragement and re-assurance, the chimp is busy jumping up and down screaming helpful comments like, "your going to die, 26.2 miles, your insane, think of your feet, nooooooooooo" The book offers helpful tips on how to manage your chimp, but none of them seem to involve my preferred method of a tranquiliser dart. The Yorkshire Marathon Team have been sending us daily emails this week, one of which also dealt with the psychology of 26.2 miles. One of the pieces of advice given is to have a simple mantra to repeat to yourself. I have thought about what my mantra will be, immediate possibilities that spring to mind are "I'm insane" "ouch this hurts" or my personal favourite "Taxi please" (BAD CHIMP). After discussion with the two younger members of Team Little Legs, we have decided on "Just keep Running", said in the same way Dory from finding nemo says "just keep swimming".

So final preparations are in full swing, I have perfected my play list, packed my case and decided on my target time. I want to get round in less than five and a half hours. This may sound like a long time, but for me its a realistic target. If this goes for plan I will aim for sub five hour in London. To York I go, I have my I-pod, my running vest and my mantra ready, and just to be on the safe side, I will take a banana in case my chimp kicks off at mile 18.

Wish me luck!!!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/TeamLittleLegs

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelMarsden1

London Calling ....

Rachel will get her moment on the mall

Hi guys, Long time no blog!

(Warning, over tired grumpy girl alert, read with caution)

There are many reasons for the lack of contact, the biggest being my return to work. I am giving serious consideration to employing Prof Brian Cox, renowned physicist and bit of educated crumpet, to invent a time machine. This would allow me spend all day at work, the evening training and then go back in time so I can spend the evening with the kids, homework, housework and bedtime stories, and then go back in time again and do RCGP e-portfolio and all the reading and studying that I need to do to keep up-to-date and be a safe doctor. Full time work on top of training, study, portfolio, three kids, housework and cupcake baking (now baked over 1,000 and still going) is leading to a tired and slightly grumpy Rachel. Its a good thing that I love my job, and I really really do. I loved working as a GP for six months in the south east of Sheffield, and my time at the Children's Hospital so far has been amazing. Lots of cute kids and a fab group of fellow docs who are supportive and happy to buy my cake!

So to business, how's the training going I hear you ask, very well I am pleased to say. I am up to 20 miles, and although I have to admit the last five miles feel like I am running through treacle and my muscles are stiff as a board. I am fine as long as I keep moving. Its like my body just quietly thinks to itself "she's off on one again", but if I stop for any serious length of time my body regains control and locks my knees so no further running is possible. However, I am slowly winning the battle, and so far (touching wood with all my might) I am injury free and my foot is largely holding up. So on Sunday I am running the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon, 13.1 miles through glorious London Parks with my wonderful friend Sonia for company. I cant wait, especially as 13 miles is now a relatively short run. I am not getting cocky, once I get over ten miles the Marsden legs start to whinge, but at least on Sunday they will only be whinging for about half an hour!

Fund raising continues to go well, I am earning between £100-£150 per bake sale and getting very nice comments about my cakes. I enjoy making them and love doing the stalls, I have even graduated to a couple of farmers markets, but as my friend Caroline pointed out to me at the last stall, I am a crap sales woman. I just cant believe that people will pay good money to buy my cakes, even though I have to say myself they do taste lovely and I am getting pretty good at the decoration now. Despite all this I still feel embarrassed to ask people to pay for my cake. I would be rubbish if I ran my own business.

So since we last spoke in April there have been many changes. I am in the market for a pay as you go inventor, I have become cake maker extraordinaire and I am in real danger of making it round 26 miles. There is also one more new thing I am delighted to tell you about.

The gorgeous baby sleeping on a knackered Rachel (I had been up until four am making the cakes for the sale and then back up at eight to finish them in time) is Indiana Michelle Savage, Born on 2nd July 2013 to ecstatic parents. This is Quinn's little sister. She is an excellent reminder of why I am adding on to an already pretty loaded schedule. Indy's parents Caroline and Nick have never been shy of singing the praises of the medical professionals who supported them and helped usher Indy safely into the world. Tommy's help support the work done by teams like the one in Sheffield, and also support parents who were once in the dark place Caroline and Nick found themselves in last year. Not only is Indy an excellent reminder of why we need to support Tommy's, she is also a symbol that no matter how impossible a goal may seem to be, it pays to never give up.

I must leave you now. I have to up at six tomorrow for a work related conference, and I have eight miles to run before bed. Its cold, wet and foggy out there, but actually, writing this blog, thinking about Quinn and looking at the picture of me and Indy has frankly left me inspired. Hand me my trainers and my reflective bobble hat, I'm going in!

www.facebook.com/TeamLittleLegs

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RachelMarsden1

The looniness of the long distance runner

Team Little Legs is up and running again, but only just


Please be warned, this is going to be a long depressing read. Firstly, an apology, I have been gone a long time, nearly five months it would seem. This post will go some way to explaining my absence, and it will be tough writing, and possibly for some close to me, tough reading. For that I apologise, but it will be a one off, then hopefully, I will go back to prattling on about cakes, running, sore feet and Tommy's.

So five months ago the blogs and Team Little Leg facebook page updates stopped, why? because I stopped basically. In October I had begun to suspect that the post natal depression I had suffered with my previous two daughters was returning, this was confirmed when whilst watching Skyfall at the cinema, I decided that I was under surveillance, and locked Emily and myself in a toilet for thirty minutes. Thankfully I confided in my husband, and saw my GP that day, and was referred to urgent psychiatric care. I was started on medication and managed to struggle on for a while, but things weren't right, I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping and was finding it harder and harder to train. I isolated myself from my friends and family and the Christmas fair almost fell apart. Thankfully it was a success and it would seem that it had been the thing keeping me going, making me so exhausted that my body had to sleep, and ensuring that I stayed in contact with other people. But once it was over, I crashed.  Sleep stopped altogether, I began to have wild idea's, became unbelievably paranoid, completely devoid of feeling. I wanted nothing to do with my friends, my family or my husband and children. I didn't wash, didn't go out and had no motivation. The happy, confident friendly and motivated Rachel slowly slipped away and left behind a shadow of a women who was less use than a chocolate fireguard. All I could do was crochet and stare at the walls. All this however paled into insignificance compared to the suicidal thoughts which utterly dominated my mind. It was simple, I was a failure, a bad person, and everybody would be better off with me out of the picture. I rationalised it with the cold reasoning that a doctor would, I even managed to convince myself that it wouldn't be too bad for Chris and the girls, my parents, siblings and friends. I picked a method, a date and put my finances in order. Then two things happened. My brilliant psychiatric team recognised that I was seriously at risk, and realised that my lowest ebs and darkest thoughts came in the early hours of the morning, when I lay awake unable to sleep. They gave me a stark choice, sleeping pills or admission for my own protection, basically if I didn't sleep, they wanted me to be with them. I agreed to start sleeping tablets and after a couple of days, there was a slight difference, and I began to feel a little better. Then the final saving grace came, Caroline told me she was pregnant. Now as you will remember all my fund raising was in memory of Caroline's lost little boy, and I was so delighted that they were now pregnant again. Then I did some mental maths, my date for ending it all came before Caroline was past the 12 week "safe" stage, and would the shock of me ending my life (I wasn't naive enough to think that people wouldn't be upset, this worried me a great deal) cause a miscarriage, I simply couldn't take that risk. It would seem that although my depressed mind was willing to destroy the lives of my children, my husband, my family and my close friends, it drew the line at ending a life that hadn't even begun yet. So I decided to put everything back, and the more I slept, the more I rested and the more medication I took, the more exercise and crocheting I did, I began to recover. Although I was and still am depressed, I began to feel normal again, I began to feel and more importantly think like me again, and I really didn't want to go anywhere. I love my life, I love my husband, my children, I adore my family and enjoy my job. I wanted to be here to enjoy it. I slowly began to do more and crochet less and I began to run again.

So less depressed, more energy, but there was a problem. During the lowest point of my depression I missed a lot of training. I looked at my training schedule and realised I was seven weeks behind. So what did I do, did I follow all the running magazines and the London Marathons training guides advice and build up again slowly after my gap, increasing weekly mileage by no more than 10% and taking care to stretch to avoid injury, or did I jump straight back in and attempt to run 30 miles a week straight off. Unfortunately I did the latter, and after five weeks of running I started to get a pain in my right foot. Things progressed and I eventually sought medical advice, and had my worse fears confirmed. Three weeks ago an xray of my right foot showed bone healing indicative of a stress fracture, a very common injury in people who increase their mileage too quickly. I had to make a decision, did I carry on to the marathon, and risk further injury, or did I pull out and carry my place over to next year. So yesterday I went to the London Marathon, but only as a spectator. I was heartbroken, and although I know I made the right decision, my foot is only just healed and the reduction in mileage that allowed my foot to heal meant that I was no where near ready, I still feel like a failure, and that hurts.

But its not all doom and gloom, lets end on a high note shall we. Tommy's have carried my entry over to next year, with no additional fund raising. Even without the sponsorship I have raised over £1,500 and I am so proud of that. My fracture has healed well and yesterday I ran for 40 mins without pain. I am having a few sessions with a fab personal trainer, who is helping me stretch and build up muscle strength to stop future fractures. Finally I am sure this is what you want to know. Caroline is now 29 weeks pregnant, with a little girl. I cant describe how chocked up I feel when I see her ever growing bump. Maybe its because I know how hard they have worked, the pain they have gone through and the pain they are risking again to get to this point, or maybe its because I know that that little girl played a part in me still being here. Thanks Little Miss Savage.

So here we go again, one year till marathon day...wish me luck!!!