2020 Virgin Money London Marathon

[p]For those of you who know me, will know that taking on this challenge will be no mean feat - especially after what has been a very difficult year on so many personal levels.[/p][p]I hope the blog below will outline some of my journey to date & help outline why I picked the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust to run for this crazy distance. [/p][p]16 years ago I was embracing the start of my 7 stone weight loss journey at Slimming World and during that rocky road, I had no idea that it would enable me to achieve so many goals. It’s honestly given me a new lease of life and empowered me to not only pursue my career, but also my physical fitness with running, riding and rowing. My biggest physical achievement to date has been having the opportunity to represent for Wales over the last 3 years and winning gold in the 2017 HIR coxed 4.[/p][p]The last 16 years has not only taught me so much about myself personally, but also the motto of “No dream is too big. No challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach....!”[/p][p]I truly hope that this challenge will be no different, but trust me, I will need all the support and encouragement! [/p][p]Through taking on this challenge I will be raising funds for this fantastic charity - Iolanthe Midwifery Trust. Iolanthe has been a huge enabler to so many professionals across the UK to develop and improve care services for women and their babies. In 2018, I was one of those fortunate midwives to be presented with both the Jean Davies & Ann Stewart Awards. By receiving this financial support and recognition from the charity for the work, it enabled me to set up services to meet some of UK’s most vulnerable complex groups and ultimately improve care outcomes. Through their support, Wales’s first Midwifery Led FGM Clinic was launched. I was so overwhelmed and honoured to have been granted both these awards and I am so pleased to say that the service has had such a huge benefit to so many women suffering from FGM. I would love the opportunity to give something back to the charity and by raising funds for Iolanthe, it will help provide further professionals with an opportunity to benefit from the financial support as I did. As a result, it will enable new innovative projects to be launched and continue to improve maternal health across the globe. [/p][p]Training since September 2019 - September 2020 has seen two repeat cycles of the Intense London Marathon Training Programme & just to put the training into context, i have covered 1467 miles in 153 hours since Sept 2019 which [b][u]totals 1603,759 km's[/u][/b] (of course this is what i have remembered to record ;-)[/p][p]I will be running the virtual on the 4th October 2020 starting at the Cotswold Birth Centre 10am through to the Women's' Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital....I so hope I do you proud...…[/p][p]My goal is to aim to finish the virtual in 4 1/2 - 5 hours - weather & luck dependent [/p][p]Wish me luck as I take on the first ever virtual London Marathon - [/p][p]This one is for you DAD ….. x[/p][p]#iolanthe #slimmingworld #midwifery #safeservices #consultantmidwife #fatherdaughterbond #firstevermarathon #firstevervirtual #mostdifficultyear #willthetrainingpayoff[/p]