Since running The Great Wall Marathon back in May 2011, I've had running another marathon on my brain. With the move to a new country and the 3 trips back to the US within the last 7 months it wasn't feasible for 2012 so I have made it a goal for 2013. I started thinking about what marathon I wanted to run way back in January 2012. Moving to Europe opened the possibilities for some pretty amazing marathons. I had pretty much made up my mind to run the Prague Marathon in May because it has been voted most beautiful marathon and Prague is at the top of my list for cities to visit. Well, then it came time to get serious about signing up and working out my training schedule. During this my husband informs me he has a big trip planned the week following the marathon and he wasn't sure he could swing both and I was not to go to Prague alone (and didn't want to go without my biggest fan!). I mentioned running/going with me to a couple of friends and it wasn't a good time for them either. So, I was back to the drawing board. I thought about the Paris Marathon in April or running a few 1/2 marathons in the Spring and doing the Berlin Marathon in September.
In the meantime, I heard from a former running buddy from Singapore, that has just moved back to UK, that she was running the London Marathon. I was baffled by this because getting into the London Marathon is a loooong shot. It sells out within minutes (which is why this marathon never occurred to me, there was no way I was ever getting in). I inquired how she got in and she told me she was running it through a charity. This peaked my interest but I just kind of left it at that and Berlin was looking like the better marathon option since the start of training for the Paris marathon wasn't going to be as friendly with my schedule. A few weeks later, I received a message from my friend asking me if I wanted to run the London marathon that a spot just opened up on her charity team. Without thinking, I almost messaged her back YES but I took a breath, thought about it for a second, ran it by Ryan and pretty much within 5 minutes told her YES. I took it as a sign. I was back and forth on what I wanted to do and she was pretty much telling me! How could I pass up this opportunity? Lots of people dream of running the Virgin London Marathon and I was given the chance of a lifetime.
I corresponded with my friend and the leader of the charity team to learn about just who it was I was running for and what all was involved for me to participate. The charity is called Relate West Surrey and is a counseling service for all types of relationships. You can read more about them on their website: http://relatewestsurrey.org.uk/. Even though the charity is not local to me and I don't have any direct relationship with this charity, I do believe that charities are there for the betterment of the community and I know it will benefit someone in need. My responsibilities as a team member for relate are to raise 1000 GBP ($1600) that goes directly to the charity and train my hardest to represent myself and Relate on April 21, 2013 in London for 26.2 miles.
I am hoping that I can depend on you for support of this charity and getting me to London to achieve my goal. I promise to keep you posted on my training through out, as well as a full recap after the marathon. To donate just visit the website below, every little bit helps. Thank you in advance!
DONATE HERE:
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