Rising to the Challenge

Saturday 11^th December 2010 will always be a special day for me. After 6 months and over 750 miles of training and one last push of 26.2 miles I finally succeeded in running my first marathon. It was a special day and thanks to the generosity of a lot of friends and family, my best friend Mike and I managed to raise over £280 for Cancer Research UK.

Running a marathon may be hard but it is nothing to the hardships that families touched by Cancer go through. The money is not much in the big scheme of things but if I have helped one person or increased awareness of this horrible disease then I am happy. My run was dedicated to my Mum Peggy Alton who suffered bravely with several forms of Cancer before finally losing the fight in August 2008. She was a special Mum who gave so much for me so now it is quite fitting that I give something back in her memory. I was also running for my Granddad, Fred Eggleton, my Uncles, Alan Bissett and Trevor Beresford who both battled unsuccessfully against the disease. Outside of my family I was running for a really good friend Val Wheeldon who was a wonderful woman full of love and kindness who suffered a great deal but still had time to smile. Lastly a friend of mine called Stacey who was Val’s Granddaughter lost her other Nan to Cancer so I was running for her too. They were all special people and we are blessed to have so many good memories to help ease the pain. I cannot change what has gone before but if I can put on my trainers and run in their memory then perhaps their suffering wasn’t in vain.

When you sign up to run a marathon you know it is going to be hard but nothing prepares you for how hard it really is. Every muscle in your body aches, your energy levels seem to just fade to nothing and somehow willpower is all that carries you through. The training is exhausting, getting up at 5.30am to run for 3 hours in freezing temperatures is not fun. The long weeks building up to the marathon are tough but this pales into insignificance to what it feels like on the big day. My body aches everywhere and feels about 20 years older than it is but there is a strange warmth and satisfaction that I just might have done something good.

The race itself was good, the weather fine but cold and my fitness was at its best since I stopped playing football some 15 years ago. I was lucky to have Mike with me as just having someone to talk to makes the miles easier and keeps you motivated. We are both pretty stubborn and knew that there was no way we would let each other down which in the later stages of a marathon really helps. Mike is special as he will do things without question and his grit and determination at the hardest points really pulls you through. There were several points in the race when I could see he was really suffering but he never complained or lost pace he just got on with running.

We ran on the road, on pathways, on shingle, off road, through water in fact across nearly every type of terrain. The shingle was the worst as you can feel each pebble through the soles of your running shoes. As your feet become tender every step hurts until it feels like you are running barefoot. I was wearing a good pair of running shoes, two pairs of padded running socks with plasters on all toes as a precaution against blisters but I still felt every step. After the race I came away with a black toenail and bruises on the soles of my feet but luckily only one blister on my heel.

There is a point in the marathon that your body runs out of energy and despite all the fluids or energy gels you ingest running becomes extremely hard. Your legs are screaming, your vision is hazy, your back aches and just about every muscle is hurting. This happened to me at around about 18 miles with still 8.2 miles left to run. The determination not to let my Mum down or any of my sponsors kept me going. It is a funny feeling, you really do feel like you can’t run another 100 metres but somehow you keep going. After a while my energy returned and I felt good for a mile or so followed by the pain again and this was the pattern right up to the finish. Reaching the finish line is an exhilarating experience, your mind is awake and wanting to sprint those last few metres in style but your body refuses to budge. Once across the line the realisation hits you that you have run 26.2 miles and can call yourself a marathoner. To our credit we ran the whole way albeit not very fast only stopping 3 times on route when our bladders were just too full to run comfortably. In a short time your legs feel like jelly and the warmth of continuous running leaves you and quite suddenly you feel extremely cold.

I am so proud of what we have achieved as we are not runners. We really pushed ourselves hard and completed something that a lot of people thought we could never do. In a small way I wanted to make my Mum proud and I hope that this is just what I have done.

So what now? My body has recovered well and I have no lasting problems so should I go on. I am going to take 3 weeks off from running and then in the New Year embark on a new challenge. What this will be I am not sure. I am thinking of running 3 or maybe 4 marathons in a year, or maybe doing an Ultra-Marathon which will all be serious challenges. Whatever I decide I am sure I will keep running for my Mum and all those special people and raise some much needed funds for Cancer research.