COTSWOLD Care Hospice at Home manager Emma Wright never dreamed of running a half marathon.

But the 42-year-old has taken part in the Bath Half Marathon and admits she definitely has the running bug.

Emma and her 41-year-old husband, Jeremy, raised £2,300 for Cotswold Care Hospice.

“I’d never run in my life.

“But after a bottle of wine, four of us signed up for the Bath Half Marathon,” said Emma.

“Though only Jeremy and I followed it through.”

The secret of her success was her ultimate aim to raise money for Cotswold Care Hospice.

“I wanted to raise money for the hospice because every day I see where the money goes,” she said.

“Once I told people I was raising money for the hospice I had to keep going.

“And that was what I needed to motivate me.”

The couple, who live in Fiddler’s Green in Cheltenham, had to train on their own during their longer run, so that one could be at home with their nine-year-old son Jack.

Emma worked for ten years as a chemotherapy sister at Cheltenham General before joining Cotswold Care in Minchinhampton.

She finished the run in two hours 50 minutes, and Jeremy, a national account manager for AG Barr, finished in two hours 23 minutes.

“I probably could have finished earlier,” said Emma.

“But I was too busy talking to people, and even stopped to give Jack a hug and a kiss.”

She celebrated finishing the marathon with a Mars bar and a glass of champagne.

“Jeremy said was I grinning from ear to ear.

“I was high for a week.

“It was such an amazing experience,” said Emma.