About the challenge

Where to begin.. it's always the hardest to start these things.. I'm sat staring at the page and wondering which piece of me you want to know.. ok.. so let me introduce myself..

My name is Kirsty.. phew that wasn't so hard.. ok.. I'm 30 years old and live in the North East of England, just outside of Newcastle.

I have an amazing husband and a beautiful daughter who was born in August 2014 and is the light of our lives. I am a solicitor who specialises in mental health law and.. well... that's probably about it. I am a normal lass really who likes hanging out with friends, taking my little one to baby classes and chat to other mummies about their yummy babies.

I have a lot of friends who have ran the Great North Run in the last few years and every year leading up to it, you suddenly get your facebook wall clogged with photos and panicked posts about needing to go for runs and the streets are littered with runners whipping out their new trainers straight from the box to 'wear them in' 2 days before the run.. and their utility belts filled with energy enhancing goodies.

I respect people like this, I respect their balls for getting up and running, the level of dedication that it takes and the effort people go to to raise money for charity.

Today is Sunday 13th September 2015.. the day of the Great North Run.. some of my amazing friends just ran the race and I watched one of them progressing on her live tracking app.. it was amazing.. I felt overwhelmed with pride and had butterflies watching her little logo move along the long 13.1 mile track.. I watched it on tele and hoped that I would see someone I knew running (yes I appreciate there were 55,000 odd people running.. but still.. most of them were on my facebook newsfeed over the last few weeks!! ha ha)

This made me think.. it made me think about what I was doing.. today I have been doing all the normal things you do on a Sunday.. faff about.. make food.. play games with my little girl.. feed her. change her nappy.. we went to the beach.. just a normal Sunday.. but then I thought about what my friends were doing.. they were putting everything they had.. every fibre of their being into completing a great challenge.. that would see them raise hundreds of pounds for charity.. and change other people's lives.. they had worked so hard over the last few months or longer so that others could be helped by the charities they raise money for.

Now, I am no stranger to fund raising.. but I wanted to do something a bit outside the box.. so I decided that I need to do the Great North Run next year.. hmm... I hear you saying.. that sounds great but it's not exactly out of the box is it.. well.. the plot thickens.. here's my plan..

I am going to run 365 miles in 365 days culminating in running the Great North Run 2016 as my final race!

I am no runner.. I have ran in the past.. I did about 4 years ago and my trainers probably haven't been seen since.. I think I may need to blow the cobwebs off and disturb the 3rd generation of trainer spider off in order to use them.. but I'm going to do it.. I'm going to track all of my progress and will keep you up to date.

I really wanted to call this page 'run fat lass run' but my husband wouldn't let me.. I'm no svelte lass you find on the covers of runners world and am far more likely to be seen with a naughty treat than anything else.. I'm nervous, I'm excited and I just hope that I can make it.. I will be running it for charity ( I will do a separate blog on that.. I need to get the page views up. ha ha)

I really hope my friends realise that you have made me do this by inspiring me.. you know who you are.. and would love you to come and join me for this adventure .. 365 miles to go..