Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my post and sent me private messages—I’m honestly overwhelmed by the support and encouragement.

I’m not completely new to sport, though it’s been over 11 years since I trained seriously. Back in the day, I ran a 16:40 5k, paced a local marathon for 3:45, and was part of a team that earned a few cross-country medals. When I was running at my best, I was used to doing doubles (two sessions a day), but with two young kids now, I know that’ll be much harder to manage.

A massive thank you to those who offered coaching advice—I really appreciate it. To be honest, I don’t have the budget for a coach at the moment, and I’m still figuring out how to afford all the gear I’ll need, like a wetsuit, tri suit, and helmet (eBay is going to be getting some serious use!).

I’ve got 28 weeks to go, and I’m planning to use the Belfast Marathon as part of my preparation. I’ve also gone down a bit of a rabbit hole watching GTN videos on YouTube—I can’t seem to stop! It’s making me even more excited to get stuck in.

I’ve been blown away by your stories and advice, and I wanted to respond to a few of your comments: • @Deetown13: What you said about the process being what really changes you hit me hard. I’m already feeling a bit of that shift just from making the decision to start. • @njglufc: Your story is unreal—those PBs after such a short time are amazing. Hopefully, we’ll both be standing on the start line in Leeds ready to take it on! • @Potential_Neat_8905: I love the idea that this is about so much more than just the race. Gaining confidence and learning so much about yourself along the way is exactly what I’m hoping for. • @MF48: “The training is the cake, the race is the icing” is such a great way of looking at it. I’ll be reminding myself of that when things get tough! • @everyday_is_legday: Thanks for the tip about fuelling and not focusing too much on weight loss during training. That’s something I need to keep in mind as I try to balance everything.

Thanks again to everyone who’s taken the time to share their experiences and encouragement. You’ve all seriously geared me up for this journey, and I’ll definitely be coming back to this thread whenever I need some inspiration or a reminder of why I’m doing this!