Hey everyone!

As you all may know by now Gemma and I walked in the marathon on June 1st in loving memory of my husband Stephen but also to raise funds for St Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown. If you have read my last few posts you will know the story but for all you new friends have a read here to get up to date!

Once we decided to take part in the marathon Gemma and I realised we needed to improve our fitness levels drastically. We both joined our local gym and I took up the services of a Personal Trainer once a week. It was the best decision I could have made as the workout I was doing was more strength training and was not helping me improve my overall fitness levels. Ben the trainer put me on a 5 day workout plan that involved all over body workouts incorporating weights and something called Xfit. Burpees are not my friend... :(

The trainer also put together a nutrition plan for me. Not going to lie, I suck balls at the plan. Literally every day I do great until the evening rolls around and the boredom sinks in. I already know that stems from my emotional over eating. I am obviously grieving but I have been doing this for years, I over eat when I am stressed, bored, depressed so it is hard to break the habit. I went up to almost 17 stone at the time Stephen died. I stopped looking after myself and all my energy went into making my number one happy. Stephen loved his food. I ate said food with him...
I have lost about two stone though so far. I am currently floating around 14St 13lb mark. I have been so busy the last few weeks that I have fallen off the wagon though so I am trying to kick myself in the hole to start moving again,

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, back to the marathon. Over the course of the journey I focused on online donations and my job allowed me to hold a fundraising day for the hospice. Gemma contributed with cash donations and my Dad brought her card in to his job for sponsors. We are waiting on the last few bob to come in but we are sitting on €1500. Myself and Gemma are over the moon to be handing so much money to the hospice. They really deserve every cent they get!
Thank You to Sky Ireland, Securispeed, Dublin Business School and all you lovely generous people for your support!

We flew through the marathon in 2 hours. I was so glad we got the work in as I wasn't sore or aching after, just tired! Poor Gemma still has blisters from her runners and we got soaked through with torrential rain during the walk!
Over all it was an amazing experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat! Next year I want to be running!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy! Go on now chicken haha

See you soon!


Love Louise xxx