I didn’t want to bring down positive news with my gloomy training run report, so here’s a separate post. Today I received my number for the London Marathon, along with my copy of Marathon News.
I have quite an “exciting” number of 36336 which I will probably forget, but it’s not that important I remember it as I’ll be wearing it. Combined with my neon yellow Miscarriage Association vest (with my name and URL on it!) you won’t be able to miss me if you’re watching on TV or at the sidelines! I’ll take a photo of me in it nearer the time so you can see.
I’ll be starting from the Red Start which is the one closest to Maze Hill station, along with all the other Golden Bond runners like me. So just a short very steep walk through Greenwich Park to the start.
As promised, I’ll try to keep my Twitter feed updated on the way round but there are Warnings that the mobile network likes collapsing so you can fully expect to think I’ve dropped dead at mile 20 and won’t hear any different until I’m well out of the area and you’ve forgotten all about me 
There is a tracking system provided by the marathon that reports on every 5K I’ve completed but by all accounts last year it wasn’t very reliable.
I’m hoping to have a quiet celebration (or commiseration!) in a local pub in the evening – if people are interested, please contact me for details as for obvious reasons (the trolls last week notwithstanding) I don’t fancy publicising my whereabouts on a public site!
And finally, a huge thank you to Hazel, my mum, Jamie, Zara and the boys, Meg, Tarah & Dan and finally (for the second time!) Jacqui for your extremely generous sponsorship. It is so appreciated – without you all sponsoring me, this training and the race itself would not be nearly so meaningful. And also I suspect that if it wasn’t for you all sponsoring me I’d have dropped out a long time ago!
I’m now just over £200 short of my £1300 target – any little that anyone can give at this point will take me that much closer to the final target! I would *love* to exceed the target, mainly because the Miscarriage Association has a shortfall this coming year with its budget, and given marathon sponsorship from its 27 runners accounts for over a quarter of that budget, you can see what a difference it makes. It’s not just swallowed up with marketing and bureaucracy like so many of the bigger charities. Which is one of the main reasons I chose to run for them aside from it being a cause close to my heart – I want to feel less bad about asking people for sponsorship because their money will go so much further than a lot of causes. So many people have been touched by miscarriage, and in many cases helped by this charity and you may not even know because miscarriage is so taboo. Goodness knows parents in this situation need all the support they can get if they want it.
Most of the people I’d hoped would donate have done so now, so I guess I am counting on the kindness of strangers, or near strangers. I hate asking for sponsorship but unfortunately one does have to be a bit cheeky about these things, especially with a month to go. So my JustGiving Page is here. If you haven’t already given and are intending to, now is the time pretty much – help me get through my final stupidly long run in just over a week!
And as always, please DO spread the word..
Anyway, the darned marathon thingy itself is a month tomorrow….. eek.
