I'm fundraising in my Dad's memory
Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! I’m taking part in the TCS 2025 London Marathon for Parkinson’s UK and would really appreciate your support!
Please help by sponsoring me with whatever you can. The money raised will help fund groundbreaking research and change the lives of the Parkinson's community.
As many of you will know, unfortunately my Dad had Parkinson's and later Parkinson's Dementia and he died at a relatively young 72 leaving a big void in our family. It's a truly horrible disease and that's why I'm taking this opportunity to run my first ever marathon and raise funds that will hopefully improve the support, research and outlook for many that will be afflicted in the future.
I appreciate that times are hard right now, but anything that you can spare will be greatly appreciated and will provide me with motivation for all the training over the next couple of months, as well as the marathon itself.
Thanks very much for your support!
My updates
Not long to go!
Tuesday 22nd Apr Almost 400 miles completed over the last 6 months and only a few days left before the marathon! I hope my training has been sufficient to help me achieve this goal.. time will tell! My running is going pretty well - hip and knee are behaving which is a relief, and I have enjoyed the taper time, no more 3 hour runs, phew! This week's focus is planning the logistics of the weekend, carb loading, hydrating, avoiding anyone with a cold, and keeping an eye on the weather. Unfortunately it looks like it will be a hot day, which is quite a contrast to 98% of my training runs! Wish me luck!! Share
2 weeks to go!
Monday 14th Apr All getting very close now.. My Parkinson's running top has arrived and I tried it out on my last long run so all good. My long run on Sunday was "just" a half marathon distance, thankful that for the first time my long run was shorter than I have run the previous week. Funny how I considered it to be short in comparison with the last few runs. My training is now tapering, and I've only about 5 runs left before the race day! Starting to get excited / nervous about the day, and really hoping for dry not too hot conditions, time will tell! Share
Update 07/04/25
Monday 7th Apr 3 weeks to go!! Can't believe it. Training going pretty well I think. I ran my longest run on Saturday - just under 19 miles. Hopefully this is my longest run and I can reduce my remaining training runs to rest my legs. I was running for just over 3.5 hours, and I can honestly say the last hour wasn't much fun. Time seemed to slow down and towards the end I felt like I was running so slowly a small child walking could have overtaken me. Whilst I didn't make the magic 20 mile milestone, my plan was to run for 3.5 hours which I did, so whilst I'm a little concerned about the pace towards the end (was it fuelling / hydration or fatigue?), I have to keep telling myself I have never run this far before, and cumulatively it's a lot of miles for my legs, so I should be kind on myself. I only hope the magic of the marathon keeps me going and sees me through the last 6 or 7 miles.. which is unknown territory for me. Not long to go now, I just need to try to stay injury free and healthy.. fingers crossed! Thanks for all the support, it's keeping me going! Share
Running update 31/03/25
Monday 31st Mar Last week was a bit of a low for me.. lots of fellow London Marathon runners were posting social media updates of their 20+ mile runs, when I was still hovering around the half marathon mark (13 miles). That coincided with two random strangers (separately) shouting encouragement at me on my training run (I presume I looked like I was struggling!) meant that I was struggling with the gulf of where I was in terms of distance and speed versus where I wanted to be. However, it's amazing what a difference a few days makes, after talking it through with my running colleagues and getting a couple of decent mid-week runs in, I set out on Saturday on a 3 hour run.. and despite my body niggles, I managed to run the whole way and achieve the magic 15 mile milestone at last. Absolutely thrilled. I'm conscious that it's still a lot more running to complete the marathon distance and that I have to find another 11 miles in my legs, however it's progress and I have slightly more confidence now I know I can do approx 60% of the distance. I have a 3.5 hour run on Saturday then fingers crossed it's taper time.. Thank you for all the donations and support! It's been really humbling and very motivational! Share
16th March - 1st half-marathon complete
Tuesday 18th Mar On Sunday I took part in the Surrey Half-marathon, both as a practise for the London Marathon e.g. testing my fuelling / water approach, and also to test my legs.. with my longest run to date being 18km a few months ago, and with problems with my knee and more recently my hip, this was a good chance to test my base fitness. It was a great day, lovely and sunny although very cold to start with, lots of spectators lining the route which was a real boost at times, and whilst I was about 10 minutes slower than the target time I had set myself in November, taking into consideration my body niggles, plus a nasty cough / cold in the run up to the race, I was actually 5 minutes faster than I expected on the day. I experienced a multitude of emotions - I was delighted to complete the event, happy that I ran the whole way, happy that my fuelling seemed to be ok, and then a bit daunted that I would have to double that distance for the London Marathon. I need a bit more time to mentally prepare for that! Good progress all in all, and only a few weeks left of really long runs before the tapering begins. Thanks again for all my sponsorship to date, it is a real motivator for me. I have added a few pics from the race to the gallery. Share
Running update 27/02/25
Thursday 27th Feb I started my marathon training plan in November 2024, running 4 times a week and ramping up from an average of 5km a week to between 20 - 30km weekly. Despite the dark and cold mornings my running was going well and I felt like I was making progress. Having completed my first 10km race the same year I wasn't convinced I was able to run more than an hour at any one time, but soon enough I was surpassing that time every week. About 9 weeks in and 240km (150 miles) later my right knee started to feel sore and a physio identified a tendinopathy problem caused by overuse. This set back has meant that for the past 8 weeks or so I have had to ease off from the training plan, do lots of strengthening exercises, and negotiate with my physio on how long my long runs can be! My first hurdle will be my first half marathon in a couple of weeks, fingers crossed I succeed and then only another 6 weeks to the marathon.. wish me luck! ShareThank you to my sponsors
£53
Gareth Cottrell
£20
Sarah Petters
Best of luck on Sunday 🥰
£30
Maddy, Rob, Teddy And Seb
Good luck Emily! You’re amazing!
£20
Sally Sellers
Good-luck, such an important charity and an amazing achievement
£50
Nadine Kirby
Good Luck Emily
£100
Ed & Ursula
Good luck Emily, we'll be cheering you on!
£26
M Conington
Run!!
£5
D Cottrell
Good luck Mummy! Lots of love, D
£9
M Cottrell
Go Mummy! Lots of love M
£50
Kate
Good luck Emily, hope you 'enjoy' it!
£20
Eeva Forde
Good luck Emily! Amazing challenge and most likely will be an emotional day.
£50
Steph
Good luck Emily!
£10
Janine Coster
Good luck for the rest of your training and the race ahead! Well done!
£50
Jamie Paul
You've got this Emily, believe in yourself! All the best.
£10
Ray Rafferty
Great cause, best of luck, Ray
£75
Justyna
Good luck with your marathon challenge!!
£100
Phil Barham
All the very best to you Emily in this fantastic challenge. So proud of you for stepping (hobbling) up to it and wish I was fit enough to accompany you on the run. Lynn and I'll be with you in spirit and, if possible, along the route to cheer you on. All the very best. Your dedication to the run (and the cause for which you are running) is commendable.
£30
Erica Robinson
A fantastic cause to be raising money for, you’ve got this!
£20
Anonymous
Awesome Emily, great cause x
£10
Rachel Lawson
Incredible effort Emily, wishing you all the best for the big day!
£50
Vera And Dave Cottrell
We wish you every success with your run and your fund raising. A very worthy cause indeed and one which is very close to my heart too. We are both very proud of you;we know how much time and effort you are putting int this endeavour. Good luck and lots of love from the in-laws. Xx
£30
Alastair Baker
Best of luck with all of your training and for the big day. I’ll be rooting you on from Spain. Amazing cause for a great person! Lots of love, Alastair
£10
Lois Nightingale
Emily! Sending love. xx
£50
Gemma Avey
Good luck Emily!
£50
Graham Simonds
Best of luck!
£30
Rob & Clare Linkins
Good luck!
£30
Thenveer Manzil
All the best Emily!!!
£25
James C Smith
Great cause great challenge - good luck
£20
Adam Williams
Great work Emily - good luck!
£20
Claire Bicknell
Good luck Emily, enjoy the run and enjoy the recovery even more.
£30
Simon Lennie
Good luck Emily! A cause close to my and my family's heart. Simon
£30
Bethany
Good luck! We’ll be cheering you on 🏃♀️xx
£100
Heather Baker
Good luck Emily! love Mum
£100
Chris D'este-hoare
A great cause and something that is close to my heart as well. Wishing you the very best of luck. Will watch out for you on the TV! Good luck and have fun.
£75
Patrick
A great cause. Such a degenerating disease. My Grandmother had it and I remember how it impacted the family. Thank you for doing this Emily.
£10
Mark Poole
Good luck Emily - you will smash this :)
£20
Warren Bailey
Good luck Emily!
£30
Sam Harris
This is amazing Emily!! I'm so inspired and wish you all the best for the big day
£26
Nikki Nicholson
Awesome challenge Emily! When it gets tough just visualise the emotions awaiting you at the finish line. You'll smash it!
£26.20
David Sanderson
You’ll smash it!
£20
Rory Horseman
Go and SMASH it Emily! I'll be on the streets of London cheering you on!
£20
John G
Great cause Emily -I know you'll smash it!
£20
Caroline Wright
Good luck Emily!
£20
Ghulam Rabani
Rooting for you Emily!
£25
Natalia Mercer
Well done, Emily! I’ll be cheering you on from the streets of London!
£25
Suresh Kumar
Enjoy the run Emily...
£50
Chris Constantinidou
You've Got This! Very Best of Luck!
£20
Richard Carter-savigear
Go Emily
£50
John Horton
Enjoy!
£50
Aidan Baker
£200
Good luck Emily. Very jealous. Well done for raising so much money for a great cause. Gareth, Cara, Harry and Aimi x