Strangely this is one of the last things I remember my mum saying to me the day before she passed away. It was Sunday 5th October 2014 and I had just completed the inaugural Chester Metric Marathon whilst my husband Stuart had run his first marathon. We were both ecstatic at our achievements and swiftly jumped in the car to go and show my mum our bling.
Sadly my mum had been ill for quite some time and despite her being the motivation for me getting in to running in the first place, she never got the opportunity to see me race. I’d asked her to come and watch me several times but due to her illness she just wasn’t well enough to stand outside for hours on end waiting for a fleeting glimpse of me in my Lymm Runners top.
As usual I had asked her to come and watch us race in Chester but she wasn’t well enough. So if mum couldn’t get to Chester, Chester had to go to mum. In we went, full of energy and enthusiasm, reciting the highs and lows of our races, showing off our new technical t shirts and medals. Mum was thrilled, she sat in her comfy chair, covered by her favourite blanket listening eagerly to our tales. She was so proud of us but warned me that I shouldn’t push myself any further and muttered those fateful words ‘Don’t ever run a marathon’.
Fast forward 6 months and I was beginning to feel a bit lost. My mum had passed away and I had temporarily fallen out of love with running. In the months following her passing I jogged a little, attended the occasional club sessions and took part in a few park runs but my motivation was gone. I started thinking ahead to October 2015 and how I would mark the first anniversary of mum passing away. Although it might sound strange, I wanted to celebrate the day in some way by doing something positive. My thoughts immediately went back to those five little words ‘Don’t ever run a marathon’……when have I ever listened to my mum I thought, so I did it, I signed up for a marathon and not just any old marathon, oh no, it was to be the UK’s first women’s only marathon in aid of cancer research.
Once I was signed up I eagerly searched the internet for a marathon beginners training plan which I found with ease. I printed it off and scheduled a plan of all my long runs between now and race day.
Having not run ‘properly’ since October I found it hard to get started but I set myself a target of increasing the distance I was running by 2km each week meaning I would complete my last long run 3 weeks before the race.
Suddenly race day was looming and I was a bag of nerves. Two weeks before the race I’d pushed myself to a half marathon PB at the English Half Marathon which had given me a real confidence boost, but now on the eve of running my first marathon that confidence had gone. I kept thinking back to why I was running the race, my motivation and my drive for wanting to push myself to the limit both physically and mentally.
Race day arrived and before I knew it I was stood on the starting line along with 3,000 other women dressed in pink ready to kick cancers butt. The gun went and I was off. As it was a two lap course I had decided to try and ignore my surroundings on the first lap with a view to really taking the scenery in on the second lap, but as Lee Valley Park was so beautiful I couldn’t help but admire my surroundings from the off.
Before I knew it I was approaching half way and briefly caught sight of a huge screen displaying a personalised message for each runner. I saw my name and a message from my Dad saying how proud he was of me for doing something so special in memory of my mum, it really gave me a boost and helped carry me through the next 7 miles.
I knew the hardest part of the course for me would be the start of the second lap and having to run past the half marathon finish line, I thought I’d be envious of everyone approaching the finish of their race and wish I’d signed up for the half, but when I approached this point I felt the exact opposite, I was actually looking forward to running the second lap.
After 4 hours, 30 minutes and a few insignificant seconds I completed my first marathon. The feeling when I crossed the finish line was indescribable, 12 months of memories and sadness seemed to disappear and I really felt like I had achieved something amazing.
So the moral of the story is, you can achieve whatever you set your mind to, all you need is a little help from Lymm Runners, determination, commitment and to never listen to what your mum tells you! I’m never going to be Paula Radcliffe or Jo Pavey but who cares, I’m Claire Berry and I’ve run a marathon!
