New York City Marathon

I have set myself the target of completing the New York City marathon - my first and probably only marathon. I am raising funds on behalf of The West Berks Alzeimer Society branch as my Dad has recently been diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and both he and my mum will be needing the support of the local branch. My Dad has already been along to two singing sessions which are arranged by the local branch and has actually had a lot of fun at these.

Injury (and recovery) Update:
It turned out that the squidgy sound was a tear in my achilles, so I think I can say ouch! 3 to 4 weeks on and I have been given rehab exercises to do, but not yet allowed to run or do spinning classes. I have progessed in the third week to 10 mins cycling very low resistance and 10 minutes walking on the treadmill with an incline. Otherwise just a lot of upper body work including arm cycling - not the most exciting but at least it does get the heart rate up a bit. Hopefully I will be running before Christmas.

The sponsorship is nearly there and I am hoping that some more funds will come in before Chrsitmas. People have being really kind making donations towards this cause.

NY UPDATE: Well I finished albeit not how I had hoped as picked up an injury half way round. All was going OK then and on target for 4h 30min, when a squidgy sound/feeling came from my right achilles/calf area and stopped me in my tracks. I could then only walk/hobble around the remaining 13 miles to the end. What a long 13 miles that was and lonely. But I was determined to at least finish. For the next 2 days my foor was like a balloon, but now looking more normal and lined up for physio visits. Not quite sure what I did, but enforced rest for a couple of weeks. I was very disappointed of course, particularly given all your support from donations to help with the fund raising. But on the bright side the rest of New York visit was brilliant and I can hopefully redeem my short marathon 'career' at Paris in April which I had entered as insurance just in case.

I have foolishly committed myself to the New York Marathon, but have been training for several months now, so am prepared as best I can be. So far I have manged to be out for 3 and a half hours which was a distance of around 20 miles. How I will complete a further 6 miles is still daunting but I am told that the adrenalin wil take care of that. I do hope so. The piccie was taken after completing an interval run as part of training in the gym so as you can see I am working hard towards the target.

I have always been keen on sports, playing competitive lacrosse, netball and hockey as well as competing locally for Newbury AC, back in the 1970s and early 1980s. However I was a sprinter so the change in recent years to completing 5 and 10k events and then 10miles and half marathons has surprised even myself and probably those that know me.

For getting used to all the crowds I took part in the Great North Run, no one saw me on the telly, getting a sun tan as it was so hot. Took me 2hrs and 1 min and I never had to climb so many hills before reaching the sea!. No wonder they say you won't get a PB in the GNR. However I was in the top third of finishers overall and top seventh for my female age group so that actually makes me feel much better.

I am now winding down my training - weird not to be slogging out those miles. I completed the 16 mile Run Kingston recently in 2 and half hours so I was really pleased with that run as mananged to run each of the last 3 miles at 9 min mile pace and felt quite strong. Let's hope this bodes well for the Marathon itself.

I have the tickets, sorted the money and travel and all I need to do now is pack. I've been getting my last minute tips from Aaron at UNISport, who has helped with all my preparation, so fingers crossed all will be fine in last 2 weeks.