A change of plan

It's been a while!......

but I have had a great deal of sorting to do, on both a practical level and inside my head, I think though that I'm almost there. Where to start?......

Well we made the decision to defer our marathon place accept that when we returned the email it seemed that we couldn't defer without a broken leg - we needed to have an injury rather than an illness. Anyway, our decision was already made and so we pulled out. I'm not too sure quite how I feel about the 'pulling out of the London Marathon' bit yet. Once again the roads are full of runners, the local papers are full of people running the Marathon and my email and facebook fill up daily with 'marathon tips'. I am however, relieved beyond words that I no longer have to worry that the huge un-raised balance of our fund raising total will be automatically withdrawn from our account. Our finances already sit on a knife-edge and the stress was doing nothing for my every day wellbeing. There is nothing 'fun' about running long distances but I did enjoy the challenge last year and the feeling that I was doing a little bit of good at the same time but doing the marathon with a charity place flips the whole focus on it's head and changes the entire challenge, especially I think when there is very little connection between you and the charity, however wonderful the charity and it's work are.

Money from the coffee morning we held, the bodyshop charity squares and the few ebooks I have sold will be sent to Shelter. The total is £213.50. Sponsorship money via the 'justgiving' site will be returned, this was pledged very much for completing the marathon and that we will not do - not this year anyway. Had we been able to defer we could have just extended the date to next year and continued to raise money but without a place it is only right that the money is refunded.

I was sponsored by someone that I have no details for. If that was you and you would like your money refunded please contact Shelter and they would be happy to do that.

So, what next, well I haven't given up on the marathon yet. I would love to crack it one day and I would love to do it with the coach. In an effort to pick myself up off the floor I went in search of a new challenge. The ballot for The Great North Run was, as luck would have it, still open and I applied. The coach was unable to commit at the time. She has just moved into a little house with her boyfriend and they are being bombarded with all those 'just moved in' bills so the registration fee was beyond her.

Last week I discovered that I have got a place which is great news. I think for this year it's a more manageable distance, the training will be mainly through the summer so no snowy runs and best of all, it's a ballot place so no fundraising pressure. Anything that I do raise, and I will do this mainly with sales from the ebook will go to the Association for International Cancer Research, for me this charity is so important. Cancer touches so many of us and any research into finding a cure has to be good, I like the idea of it being international too, taking knowledge from around the world and fighting this disease together seems an excellent idea to me.

Well that's all for now. For anyone who has supported us I am sorry we were unable, this year to see this through. I hope you can appreciate that although it all looks great fun on the telly the marathon is a huge challenge that takes many, many months to succeed in. There is so much that has to work over quite a long period of time and for me this year it just didn't happen. Please stay with me if you can as I head towards the Great North Run, I'm told it's a brilliant event and I am looking forward to it.

Viv x