Exactly what she will be doing on Sunday 28th September

I could be staying in bed, or (more virtuously) should be volunteering at one of Ealing's best community events... but I'm not going to.

I'm going to run the Ealing Half Marathon... again.

Arghh.... I've gone and done it now haven't I?

This year, having done very little training.. and then having sprained my ankle, I was determined to give it a miss. But, for some reason that nagging little voice inside me kept getting louder 'you know you will regret it, you know you can't just watch - you have to be a part of it.'

I haven't been able to shut that voice up, so, after a brief (too brief) training run this week (to check the state of my ankle) and then a quick check of the Ealing Half Marathon website where I saw that Alzheimer's Society was the headline charity, my decision became obvious.

Many of us have been impacted by Alzheimer's - my mother was diagnosed with it a few years ago. The charity helps families in many ways, so, if I can raise a bit to support their work then so I shall.

Decision made, better get out there and get at it ...as they say.

As you know I am a very reluctant runner...and the saying about the first step being the hardest has never been so true.

This was an interesting read and I felt like he was aiming some of this directly at me...'' If you want to run, you are good enough. There are no "bad" runners, only slower ones. Look behind you at the people you can't see-because they either dropped out or never started.''

I can't defer it any longer... it's about time to get running around Ealing once again.

If you want to spot me it won't be hard - I'm the very , very slow one ...with the confused look of 'why am I doing this?' on my face.

Wish me luck!

Annemarie Flanagan

28th August 2014