Hi Every one, Welcome to my blog!
My name is Katie. I set up this blog as an on going story of my journey to the finish line of the London Marathon.
The story beginning in April this year, like most years me and my family went up to London to cheer on the thousands of runners in London doing the marathon, sat at the side of the road with a bottle of magners was little me thinking "wow these people are amazing running this distance, one day I'll do it." This, is what I had said every year for the past 5 years and finally decided to do something about it.
The first step was who am I going to run for?? I knew it had to be in support for cancer as sadly my Nana was taken by the dreaded C word, my run was always going to be for her. Many moons ago my Nana had competed for Essex at long distance running events so it seems the perfect reason to run for her. Macmillan nurses' are worth their weight in gold and provided care for my nana in her final days. The decision was made.
The next step - The dreaded ballot. I had heard rumours that it is notoriously difficult to get a place in the marathon and decided to chance my luck and apply in the ballot. I also decided at that stage to apply for a golden bond place with Macmillan Just in case!
Then what??? Wait 6 months to find out if I got a place..I think not!! I hate waiting, I needed to something to keep me occupied and my mind off the ballot. Having completed a the 5k race for life in 2004 for cancer research, and the Run 10k in 2008 again for cancer research, I decided to look into running a half marathon. Whilst browsing on the Macmillan website I found that MacMillan had a team in Run to the beat, a half marathon in Greenwich with various bands around the course, this sounded perfect and I got a place on the team! So the training started and it was hard work!! But it all paid off in the end. Having completed my 10k in 57 minutes I thought realistically my half marathon would take me around 2 and a half hours which I was happy with, never did I dream that I would or could cross the line at 2 hours and 4 minutes, a huge personal achievement. I also raised nearly £500 for Macmillan which was fabulous! The support from Macmillan was invaluable and I made great friends with other members of team Macmillan which made the day even more special. Never more had I want to the marathon then when I crossed the line of my half marathon surrounded by support and love!
Luckily I did not have to wait to long (4 days!!) after my half marathon to find out if I got a ballot place. Sadly I didn't get a place on the ballot, my initial reaction was "why the hell send me a virgin London marathon jacket when I haven't got a place!" I was heavily disappointed! Next came my phone call to Macmillan, with everything that I could have crossed, crossed, "I didn't get a ballot place in the marathon, but I would still love to run for Macmillan" with baited breathe I was told to wait while they got my application form, then came the news, "Katie we would love to have you on our team!" The whole office jumped when I screamed!!!
SO what next?? T&R - Training and Fundraising! I have arranged my training plan and I am going to train to do it in 3.5-4 hours and start training next week (best start early so I can slowly build up!). Fundraising. I am looking to host a black tie event but its early days yet and I have all these ideas floating around...So watch this space.
Ill be back soon to update about "T&R"!!!
Take care and stay strong and if your running for team Macmillan then congratulations and I wish you all the luck in the world!
Much Love
Katie-Lou
