Carolyn Asher has set herself three challenges before she is 50.

A HONITON woman has set herself a hat trick of challenges to complete before she turns 50.

Carolyn Asher, from Meadows Crescent, has set herself three challenges including running the New York Marathon in five hours or less, raising �2,000 for charity and starting a career in health care sales or promotion.

She will be running the 26.2 miles of the New York Marathon on Sunday, November 7 and will be setting off on Friday (November 5).

She said: “Essentially, I wanted something that fitted in with my ‘recycled teenager’ philosophy and it was do-able, but I would have to work at it.

“I don’t like letting people down and, having pledged to raise a certain amount of money for Get Kid’s Going in 2008, due to my own health challenges, I had failed to meet this pledge - something it is important for me to ‘put right’.

“I can never resist a decent challenge. I tend to define ‘decent’ as something that benefits as much as possible in as many ways as possible - and this one will certainly keep me on my toes in more ways than one.”

Carolyn hopes to complete the marathon in five hours or less as she says “I thought five hours was a reasonable time and I just wanted to do it for my 50th birthday.”

Carolyn has already run 10 marathons including races in London, Luton, the Isle of White, New Forest and Dublin.

She added: “There is a huge excitement about it. You get great personal satisfaction from running a marathon.

“I generally find doing something like this keeps me motivated.

“I am also running for a purpose and not just for me. I am putting in all that effort to try and benefit someone else.”

Carolyn took on marathon running as a 40th birthday present, which has helped her to stay fit after suffering from significant health problems.

As part of her birthday challenge, she will also be attempting to raise �2,000 for the national charity, Get Kids Going, which helps disabled children and young people to get involved in sports by providing specially built sports wheelchairs.

Carolyn has already set her sights on her next challenge and will be running the London Marathon in 2011, for a sixth time.

To help Carolyn meet her fundraising challenge, sponsor her at www.justgiving.com/Carolyn-Asher