Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

After another amazing week I am now looking forward to running 'The Virgin London Marathon' more than ever and can't wait until race day in 11 weeks' time. By all means I still have a long way to go, but I finally feel like the training and hard work is starting to pay off and this is beginning to reflect in the amount of time I spend on my feet and the mileage I do.

The freezing weather wasn't enough to put me off this week, although I did consider staying in the comfort and warmth of my flat to running around the ice cold valley many a times! Two midweek runs, of which one was with Sidmouth Running Club, saw me cover 10 miles but I wasn't quite prepared for what Sunday had in store.

One of the ladies from the running club kindly invited me out to run with her on Sunday morning, as she is training for her first marathon too. We arranged to meet at 9am, a time I rarely see on my usual Sunday mornings, but I agreed and off we went...

It was a surprisingly gorgeous morning, especially considering the snowy and rainy weather the previous day, and the views of Sidmouth from Peak Hill were stunning. We followed a similar (but shorter) route to the runners taking part in the '4 Trigs', an event where runners must navigate themselves and visit each of the four Triangulation Pillars around the Sid Valley. They really are amazing runners and zoomed past us on along the way.

The route we followed took us up Peak Hill, along Muttersmoore to Four Elms Hill, through Harpford Woods, up Fire Beacon, along Core Hill to the edge of East Hill Strips, down to Sidbury, along Buckley Road, back to the bottom of Trow Hill and home again. By this point we had clocked up 12 miles, nearly half the marathon distance, and I was ready for a nice warm shower followed by a lazy Sunday afternoon.

My once white trainers were now a murky looking brown colour, my feet were soaking wet and my legs were caked in thick mud... but I strangely loved every minute of it. The cross country running was really good fun and will help build up the strength in my muscles and ankles. Thank you Anne for encouraging me to come out running with you, I can't wait for next week’s route!

Also this week I have edged closer to my fundraising target, with my current total raised standing at £440. Again, I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who is supporting me through this enormous challenge, I really do appreciate it.

Thank you for reading my blog and your support. Watch this space to see how I get on next week.

If you would like to donate please visit http://www.justgiving.com/jenniejepperson or text JJLM88 to 70070 followed by the amount. Thank you :-)