Justine

Hi Tom

Well it's been incredibly windy today, I'm surprised there are any leaves left on the trees.

I went for a run with Justine over Hylands Park. Justine is my friend who had the double lung transplant. I ran in a race with her at the beginning of this year. She has entered the Brentwood half marathon and wants someone to train with. I'm leaving all the decisions to her, like how far we run etc as she knows how far she can push herself. She hasn't done any running for quite a while and decided she wanted to do 6 miles walk/running. I think she surprised herself as she did around 1.5 before she needed to walk. The strong wind didn't help as it was like doing two steps forward and one back. But in true Justine determined style we did the 6 she wanted to do. She was delighted and I was delighted for her.

I love Justine's zest for life. I suppose when it's almost taken from you, you realise how precious life is. She doesn't stop smiling and is positive about everything. I love the fact that she will always push herself that little bit further. A real inspiration...and long may she continue to do everything in life that she wants to and to keep inspiring people....including me.

This year she won two bronze medals at the world transplant games. How good is that.

9 days to go x