The Good News is: I got over the line!

It was a lovely day: the sun was out but not excessively hot. The crowd was magic and it was great fun. We found somewhere to park before all the roads closed – and I crossed the line!

I was never built for speed, even when I was young. I always performed better in the cross country run rather than the sprints, which stood me in good stead yesterday on the Great South Run. My aim was to cross the line, I was not worried by the time or doing well – just getting over the line. My training had been interrupted in August with a sprained ankle and I knew I would be very slow – which is why I encouraged the other runners, running for ACS, to not to run with me. I knew before I started, that I was overweight, injured and old - so fast was not going to happen.

I started at the back of the last wave of runners to start. Very soon the gap between me and the runners in front of me opened up and for most of the race I was by myself. But I did not travel alone.

I want to say a huge thank you to all those volunteers who travelled alongside me. Many were from the Gosport Running Club, Portsmouth Running Club and Southampton Runners. In return for their kindness, I bent their ears about all the fabulous things that ACS does, in particular our Young Carers Team. We now have a local company who fits disabled equipment, looking out for and asking the question – Are you a registered young carer? And with all the details on how to get their customers in touch with us.

I would also like to thank the dance group, who were all packed up and ready to go home when I came around the corner, who then gave me a personal performance to cheer me on the way. I would like to thank the road sweeper who personally cleared a path through the discarded bottles of water at the 4-mile mark, so I would not trip. A big thank you to marshals that checked up on me to see if I was ok and to the St John Ambulance crew who suppled me with the ice packs.

The thing to take away from this is I got over the line. I didn’t give up – I didn’t even think about giving up. So, when you next get to a maths problem or an English text and you say – “I can’t do it” or “I give up on this” you won’t get any easy ride.

As I ran, I twisted my ankle on the cobbles in the Historic Section of the route, which triggered off the pain in my knees and hips from my fall 3 and half years ago. The last 8 miles were painfully slow but I did not stop, and I managed the 17 minutes a mile required by the Marshal.

I crossed the line - I crossed it for all the fabulous people who work for ACS, for all the young carers who have so much to put up with as a young carer and for all of you who gave me their pocket money to sponsor me.

I crossed the line - I may have crossed the line third from last - but I crossed the line!