InspiredToRun.co.uk

I started running in a big annual corporate 5K run about five years ago. I now train beforehand and have managed to run faster with age!  I have increased the number of runs by enrolling in events such as the Sport Relief Mile, the Race for Life and the Flora Light Challenge for Women in Hyde Park, London. 

My late partner supported me at these runs, when he could. I say 'late' as very tragically he took suddenly ill on Christmas Eve 2004, and died seven weeks later of a cancer - it was too late for any treatment.

He was a man who'd never looked ill before all this. It was a sad story. I continue to run and found the first couple I did quite emotional, as I felt I was doing it for a reason.

Less than a year later, I got the awful result of a minor op to remove what was believed to be a harmless lipoma in a thigh muscle. It was a malignant version, a very rare tumour. As a result I was admitted to the London Marsden in January 2005, and the muscle was removed from my leg. Fortunately I've not had therapy, but continue to go there for checks every few months and for the next 10 years. 

I was unable to walk properly, let alone run, or drive - I am a driving instructor - for about two months. When I was fit enough I started training again, and did the Race for Life where I raised more than £2000 for Cancer Research. There were so many very kind people; I had a colleague giving me the money he'd been given as a leaving present [he would not take any of it], another won the sweep on the Grand National and gave all of it to me for the charity. Many other friends gave more than they'd pledged, and two business friends of my late partner gave £200. I also ran in two other 5K events - the Hyde Park run I have always done on behalf of the National Autistic Society [I had a brother who was autistic, he died suddenly 10 years ago, aged 31] and I continue to do so.

Although my times last year were a bit slower I still aim to improve and my own achievement is that I run non-stop, which I have kept to, despite a slightly weaker leg. I find it grindingly hard sometimes, but somehow get through that bit and manage to find a sprint to the line. Losing a muscle is not too bad; what I have gained is terrific support including a new man in my life who only appeared on the scene a few days before I learnt of my own predicament, and before I was ready for anyone else, I thought. He's given me the care I needed, more than I could have wished for. He found himself in a similar, but not quite as serious, situation as I'd found myself when my former partner died, when I had to show strength through somebody else's illness.  I now try to have a fitter lifestyle and eat more healthily. I have everything to live for.