4 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds

4 hours, 59 minutes, 45 seconds

Well I can honestly say running the Virgin London Marathon was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. It was an amazing experience and the crowd were fantastic. After a fairly good start, I crossed the mid way point at 2 hours, 10 mins, however, my left knee and hamstring started getting painful. I pushed through, was delighted to see my hubby, Kitty and Sam at mile 16, giving hubby a hug, then gave up and walked around mile 17. So with a combination of walking and running or should I say jogging I finished in just under 5 hours. Richard Branson came in just behind me - didn't he do well, and he was dressed with wings!!!!!

Battersea Car Boot Sale & Only One Week!

Battersea Car Boot Sale - £100 Profit

Well it's been a productive day for my fundraising, raising £100 profit at Battersea Car Boot Sale, selling stuff I'd normally give away to the charity shop or throw away.

It was also a very enlightening day, with some memorable moments:

* a slagging match between a guy in a wheelchair and a guy you really wouldn't want to get in an argument with

* a lady caked in make up, with her boobs nearly falling out and her nipple showing - really not pleasant, however, Paul my hubby was very disappointed he'd missed that moment

* selling a John Terry book to a guy who hated Chelsea Football Club!

And this week, I managed 20 miles over 4 days, and loving the tapering in the run up to the big day. I'm slightly nervous, but I know that all the training I've put in will get me round......

It's all in the mind

My friend Shona is a performance coach - she's awesome. Anyway I asked for some tips as my motivation was waning. Amongst other things she advised to keep telling myself 'it's getting easier' and to visualise crossing the finishing line effortlessly in the time I'd like to achieve.

This morning, after 18 miles, my legs felt like they had a mind of their own, but I kept going until I'd completed the 22 miles I'd set myself. God it hurt. But I did it.

That's the longest I'm going to go before 25th April. It's knackering. Still it's psychologically great to have it under my belt. I start tapering down next week, but let's hope my fundraising efforts stay up. I'm nearly there in achieving my goal of raising £5,000, with more than £4,500 already donated through my Virgin Money Giving page www.virginmoneygiving.com/hazelmartin. Thank you to everybody who has already made a donation and if you haven't, please do so!

20 miles along the Thames Path

Just beautiful!

Okay I think maybe I'm going mad as I actually quite enjoyed the run along the Thames this morning running a grand total of 20 miles, taking just under 3 hours and burning over 1k calories. Must do some stretching otherwise I'll be stiff as a board tomorrow.

Dad's 70th Birthday Party and 18 miles the next day

Dad's 70th Birthday Party with donation requests in place of birthday gifts - isn't my dad a generous fellow, then again what an earth do you get a 70 year old for their birthday? Over £170 raised in donations. It was a great night and much fun had by all. And if that wasn't enough I ran 18 miles the following morning taking 2 hrs 35 mins to do so. Dead chuffed although as my lovely hubby pointed out it could be that the calibration on my Nike watch is not correct!!!!

The Furthest Run Yet - 16 miles

Two laps round Richmond park this morning taking 2 hr 21 mins for 16 miles, so just under 9 min miles so delighted. But it is such hard work!!!!!

Media Coverage - Wee County News

Some lovely coverage in the Wee County News asking for support from the Wee County!

Media Coverage - Alloa Advertiser

Media Coverage - Alloa Advertiser

Delighted, the story helps raise awareness for both Marie Curie and Ovarian Cancer Action amongst Scottish Clackmannanshire readers

If only my training programme was that easy!

Charity Dating Event - 4th February 2010

Wow what a night, the charity dating night was a great success raising over £1,500 - delighted!

And from all the feedback we got, everyone certainly seemed to have a great time with a number of dates happening after the event! I still need to raise £1,000 so if you are reading this blog and would like to make a donation, you can do so at www.virginmoneygiving.com/hazelmartin

26 miles and Dating Event

It's been a productive week this week, which is good news for training and fundraising but not particularly helpful when it comes to entertaining material for a blog.

I'll do my best to put that right next week - perhaps trip up on my run home from work and fall into the Thames, trip over a dog or turn into a running snowman - but this week things are going very smoothly. I've managed to get out for a run five days out of the last seven, despite the snow and ice, covering over 26 miles in the process, and that's on top of yoga on a Monday night. I'm looking to work up to a peak of around 48 miles in one week and so, for the time being at least, I am certainly on track.

And my fundraising efforts are coming along nicely as I have started receiving donations from lovely single people who are coming along to the dating event I'm organising with my friend Siobhan for Thursday, 4th February at a pub near Waterloo train station. I'm hoping to raise around £1,500 through donations and a raffle on the evening to raise - dead chuffed as I have my first female lady donating £20 and my first male donating £25, plus I managed to secure Bed and Breakfast for two at Cowley Manor and am hoping to get lots more fantastic raffle prizes. Please get in touch if you are able to offer any raffle prizes by contacting me at hazelnorval@hotmail.com.

Anyway, I need to get off this computer as my husband is commenting that these days I always seem to be on it, which I am in between training that is ...