3 more sleeps to go!!!

This will be my last entry until after the London Marathon has been conquered. This is it. No more can be done now, I've completed my training, I've raised almost £2500, I've made some amazing friends in the process, had a lot of laughs and shed a lot of tears along the way. Tomorrow we drive down to Surrey where my children and dog will stay with my parents, and on Saturday I'll be going to the expo to collect my runners number and chip. Then it'll be a waiting game, lots of legs in the air, and a lorry load of carbs until I turn in early to catch some sleep before race day.

It has the same feel as an impending wedding day followed by a long haul honeymoon break over Christmas might. So much planning to do, so much excitement, fear, anticipation and every other emotion under the sun. This week I've had the emotional stability of a teenager! Everything makes me tear up, every kind gesture or word. A lovely card from my mother in law's friend Margaret was just so beautiful, and reminded me of how running unites people from all walks of life, and also how much richer my life has become over these past 6 months.

A while ago I couldn't see a future for myself after VLM. For a while I saw it as a final event in my life, the last thing I would do. I was drowning in that dark place that I haven't often been to, but when I'm there it drags me down and sucks the life out of me. But slowly, without me noticing at first, there were chinks of sunshine shining through, and slowly the clouds have begun to part and I can see that I still have things to do, still have life to be lived. I want to run VLM with Holly, I'm looking forwards to running the Robin Hood Half with TT - his first racing event - and smashing my PB. I want to visit Caroline and cause mayhem down south. I want to see my children continue to grow and develop into wonderful children, and I want to rekindle friendships that I lost when I became ill last year. I hope to rejoin Larry in the medical world, and then progress to be the person I was born to be before trauma and illness stopped me.

So yeah, 26.2 miles? No sweat! I'm running this for Liz, who lost her life to PND, for myself, who has grown up feeling inferior because my mental health failed me rather than my physical, and for the 250 gems on my Mind vest who represent 250 people my family, friends and team mates have know who have suffered in this way.

God bless all my supporters.