Amanda Takes on NYC – 26.2 Miles for Cancer Research UK

To make every one of those 26.2 miles count – raising money for research that gives more people more time, more hope and more life after cancer!

My Story

Why I’m taking on NYC On 1 November 2026, I will be standing on the start line of the New York City Marathon, about to run (walk, drag myself around!) 26.2 miles through all five boroughs of New York. What seemed like a good idea at the time is now slightly terrifying – especially after my latest long run, when I got lost, got soaked, felt sick, aborted the mission and got an Uber home! Simon, my husband, originally booked the marathon – a bucket-list challenge – for my 50th birthday, and I was due to run it last year. However, following a routine mammogram shortly after I turned 50, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully, it was caught early. I received treatment and, on 1 September 2025, I rang the bell. Since then, I’ve been getting on with my recovery and living my life – including, apparently, deciding that running that marathon is still a sensible idea! Sadly, since my diagnosis in January 2025, cancer seems to have touched so many people around me too. Friends, family and people I care about have faced diagnoses, treatment, investigations and that horrible period of waiting and wondering what comes next. And despite all the advances in research, detection and treatment, we have also lost people to this awful disease. So, if I’m going to drag myself around 26.2 miles of New York, I want those miles to mean something. I’m raising money for Cancer Research UK because research changes what a cancer diagnosis means. It leads to earlier detection, better treatments and gives more people the chance to carry on doing all the ordinary – and occasionally extraordinary – things they still want to do. I know there will be moments during those 26.2 miles when I wonder what on earth I was thinking, but I’ll also know how incredibly lucky I am to be there. So this one’s for everyone whose life has been touched by cancer. New York, I’m coming for you. 🗽🏃‍♀️❤️ If you can spare anything at all, thank you. It genuinely means a lot.