Emma, of Ballymena Runners, at Glenariff Forest, Northern Ireland. Photo 0667.

You will hear me laughing.

I am the wrong side of forty, the mother of two, and have been with my husband, Paul, for twenty-six years.

I started running five years ago, when a friend asked me to keep her company at Ballymena Runner’s Cozy Sofa Night, which is a beginners session, to introduce people to running by getting them out of their comfort zone, by training to run 5k over a series of running lessons.

I am now one of the lady captains of Ballymena Runners.

I’m also the naughty person in Ballymena Runners. If anyone is going to get stuck up a mountain, and in trouble, it will be me.

I was lucky enough to run the London Marathon, and to have raised £1700 for the charity of a friends daughter, Avah McGinty (7), who has spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

Last year Avah joined me and a group of friends, and actually walked the last twenty meters of a run on her own. Which was pretty profound, for us all.

Everybody can do whatever they want. I was able to run a marathon, and Avah was able to run her own version of a marathon. We all just need to find our own way.