The plan unfortunately didn’t go as well as I hoped. After a 19 mile run one weekend I had a pain in my left foot. If I was sensible, I would have rested and let it heal, but I was away and bored so did three runs that week. After the second I knew something didn’t feel right and after the third I really knew it. This injury held me back from running for weeks only being able to do shorts distances and seeing a physio multiple times to try to correct it. I therefore didn’t run my first practice marathon and London will be my first.
I have started the same training program again and although some illness at the beginning interrupted it, I’m now back on track. Perhaps being a bit more careful than I was the first time as I have seen how quickly an injury can come on and stop you in your tracks.
I’ve been saying for the last few years I wanted to complete a marathon before I turned 40, so I am very excited to have this amazing opportunity, but I do look forward to a rest in May already.
Running story of Maria Kershaw: Like many runners, I enter the London Marathon ballot every year without ever seriously contemplating running 26 miles, so I once again breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving the ‘Not this time, Maria’ email last July. Fast forward to December and the exciting news that the Gnosall Globetrotters had been awarded a London Marathon place…which I won! And then promptly burst into tears and believe me, they weren’t tears of happiness!
It was a colleague at work a couple of days later who completely changed my mindset, reminding me that I had overcome far bigger challenges in life and this was simply a very long run. I thought back to this time 20 years ago when I was seriously ill, undergoing an aggressive course of chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and it dawned on me that many people will never have the privilege of good health to be able to contemplate running a marathon.
And so my journey to London began. I’m taking it one day at a time and with the support and company of my wonderful running buddies, including many Globetrotters, training is underway. As expected, it’s not exactly a walk in the park (excuse the pun!). My legs often feel as if they are about to fall off from the DOMS and I don’t think I will ever relish a pre‐work 6am run in sub‐zero temperatures!
This will be the only marathon I will ever do, so I am fundraising for two wonderful causes, Blood Cancer UK and the Sam Myatt Memorial Fund: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/maria‐running‐london