Thank you London, and good night

I did it! A few weeks before Christmas I was offered a place to run the London marathon for a cancer charity and on Sunday I crossed a finish line I had been working towards for the last couple of years really.

I ran steadily for the first 20 miles and then mixed power-walking and running for the last six miles, because I didn't want to hit "the wall" at that crucial stage. I'm pleased to say I didn't hit it at all throughout the whole race.

The crowds were really great but it was my support team, and thinking of my beloved Bonnie that got me through those 26.2 miles. So thanks to Fiancé Dan, Mum, Dad, Bro Dan, Trish, David, Jon and Mini. Thanks also to everyone who called, text and Facebooked me, watched me on the TV, and especially to all of those of you who sponsored me and who put up with all my marathon chat over the last few months. It was the thought of all your support that got me round.

So the race itself? Well the weather was mixed. At the start I thought I might get sunburn, but at mile 20 I thought I was so cold I was blotchy and thought I might get frostbite.

The course wound its way through residential parts of London for about 75 per cent of the course, and the bands, kids, Morris dancers, St John's ambulance crews etc were awesome. The residential scenery started to get a bit boring after a while, but just when I needed a kick up the arse we passed Tower of London, and the Gherkin rose in the distance.

And then I was on the home straight. First the Houses of Parliament appeared on the horizon and I knew I was nearly there. The crowd along the Embankment were awesome, and thanks so much to the ladies I saw from my charity at the point, that was encouragement indeed. On The Eye I could see people watching us and then we turned past Westminster Abbey and onto Birdcage Walk.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the "400 metres to go" sign. I really went for it then. Steamed alongside Buckingham Palace where I saw a very hoarse Dan, then I saw my Mum, Dad and Bro in the grandstand and knew I'd done it. Arms in the air I crossed that finish line thinking of Bonnie.

She is the reason I did this. Running that marathon didn't bring her back, but hopefully the money you've helped me raise will bring cancer research that little bit further along so that other families won't have to go through losing anyone or any pet. I'm currently on £870 and would just love to make it to £1000.

I have a few more weeks to collect my money and I simply beg you to dig deep to get me that bit further up. I went, I ran, I bled, sweated and cried. Please, please help me raise that final £130. And in case you don't already know, you do that by going to www.justgiving.com/bonniebarnhouse. Thanks guys.

It's the final countdown!

I've been unable to drink, eat chocolate, take-away and sweets for months now. I've trained most days for the last three months, constantly tried to bully people into sponsoring me and now it's (almost) finally here.

The London marathon is this Sunday and I have to be honest, I'm c*$@ing myself! Everything was going fine until about three weeks ago, when I was struck by the dreaded flu. Much to my distress my family and body forced me to take a week out of running which I feel seriously knocked me back.

This illness meant I had to miss my furthest and last long run, of 22 miles or so. Once I was recovered I I was too close to race day to do the long run so I have never been able to have the psychological boost of knowing I can run over 20 miles.

The furthest I have run is 18 miles, and on the day I ran that I felt that I could have run a few miles more. This means that I only really have to worry about the last six miles or so. At least that's how I'm trying to look at it.

I shall be filling you in on all the gritty details after I am back and have gone for the mother of all Chinese meals, but please please please, if you haven't yet sponsored me please do so, for the sake of all that suffer with cancer.

This is a really hard thing to do, and to know doing it could save people and animals like Bonnie, really helps. Please dig deep

So tired

God I’m tired! The marathon training is really intense now. This week I’ve had to do three speed sessions, one hill session, 15.5 miles and an hour-long steady run.

All this amounts to about 35 miles in just one week and I am really feeling it today.

Tomorrow I’m having a cake sale at work in order to try and boost the sponsorship a bit. It’s currently up to £450, which is over £1000 off my target.

If anyone reading this hasn’t yet sponsored me I would really appreciate it if you could go to www.justgiving.com/bonniebarnhouse and pledge some money. Even a fiver would be fantastic.

Similarly if anyone has any fundraising tips please sent those my way as well. I’m starting to panic!

Image by jopokele

Forget running, get walking

There are just ten weeks to go until the marathon and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't starting to take over my life. Running is pretty much my world at the moment and I'm very worried about the race, although I'm looking forward to it too.

Despite all the running going on, I've found time to take up one more new hobby: dog walking. Our local RSPCA centre allows you to walk dogs for them and so I've been going up there every weekend and walking the poor pouches that have found themselves there.

I was largely prompted to do this after my family got Jack, our new dog (pictured here with me), from a rescue centre. He is the most beautiful dog in the world and I'm so glad we were able to rescue him. I live in rental accommodation so am unable to have my own dog at home; if I could I'd rescue all of the dogs up at the RSPCA centre.

Anyway I just wanted to encourage everyone out there to contact your local RSPCA centre in order to find out if they allow you to do this. It's free, the dogs love it and if you're like me and can't have a dog of your own to care for all the time, it's great to be able to give lots of dogs a little bit of affection every now and again. Check it out.

Please sponsor me for the London Marathon at www.justgiving.com/bonniebarnhouse

Bringing out the big guns

Although I run all the time my proper marathon training schedule kicks in tomorrow. I may regret saying this but it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

Obviously there are some long runs on it but it seems to be more about running more often than about running that much further than I would normally. That works for me as time is very precious. As part of my preparation I am running a 10k race at Longleat early February and of course in March I shall be running the Bath Half Marathon. I'm really hoping that will feel dead easy by then.

At the moment myself and my campaign manager (The Boy) are busy working on getting my sponsorship. We've had quite a big push on it this week and as a result we are now up to £130, which is just under a tenth of the way. I feel like that's quite a good start.

Over the coming weeks we're going to start pulling out the big guns so watch this space.

If anyone knows of any businesses that might be interested in sponsoring me could you please let me know? I've been sending out letters to a few but as yet nothing has come of it.

Image by Rico Moran

Anyone for a marathon?

Anyone for a marathon? No? Perhaps you would just be so kind as to sponsor me then. I will be joining the other mad 33,000 people running the Flora London Marathon on 13th April of this year. It is my first marathon and I'm running for Association for International Cancer Research.

Why? One in three people get cancer. Isn't that reason enough? Think of all the people you know. A third of them will contract the disease. I run so that all the people I care about have the medication and care they need should they ever get ill.

Animals get cancer too though. About this time last year my dog was diagnosed with cancer. Had this happened a few years ago we would have lost her pretty much instantly. Thanks to recent improvements in medication we had a few extra months with her, and they were precious as she was able to come and stay with me for the last few weeks of her life, time I'm so grateful for.

I like to think that some of the money I've raised in the past helped her to live comfortably for a little longer. That's what keeps me running. I would run forever if it meant saving her and others like her. 26 miles? That's nothing.

Please give generously.

Image by Paco CT