History tells when the Athenians learned the Persians had landed at Marathon en route to attack Athens in 490 BC, a messenger ran to Sparta for help. This first ‘marathon runner’ covered 260 kilometres of rugged terrain in less than two days! A runner (probably the same poor chap) subsequently ran from Marathon to Athens some 40 kilometers (nearly 25 miles) to announce the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon.
The marathon as an event of 40 kilometers was first included in the 1896 Olympic Games. It was the British royal family who made it longer. Queen Alexandra asked that the 1908 Olympic marathon should start on the lawn at Windsor Castle. Competitors ran to the finishing line in the Olympic stadium 26.2 miles away, a distance which has stuck.
The reasons people run marathons are as varied as the events and the runners themselves. Millions have and do run for causes close to their hearts. The London Marathon will take place next month -an annual event since 1981. Since then it has become the largest annual charity fundraising event, raising more than £1 billion for charities large and small, and has been completed by over a million people. Some run that entire 26.2 miles dressed as rhinos, carrying fridges, even in stilletos.
In the biggest single change to the event, the virtual London Marathon was introduced as a result of the Covid lockdown in 2020. The marathon that year was cancelled in April at the height of the pandemic, and postponed until that autumn. A decision was then taken to run the 2020 event totally differently. Elite runners ran a course in London but everyone else had the option to run wherever they were living, reducing the need for travel and crowds on trains. Runners used an app tracking their progress – a virtual marathon. Bedecked in their numbers they ran in October, a time when it was thought less conducive to the virus spreading.
That was our first year living and working on our narrowboat. We stayed moored around our former home area purely so Steve could continue training and complete his virtual run from the boat before we set off cruising to pastures new.
Running club friends from Poplar Running Club in Loughborough joined him for stretches of the run, family in Sileby provided loo stops on a looping route and I ran a water, gels and jelly baby station from the boat which proved useful not only to him but also to other London Marathon numbered virtual runners passing by.
The following year we took our home down to London (with all the sights en route) for the in-person marathon – again held in October. We moored at Little Venice.
From there, Steve completed the London Marathon in person supported by us all. It was his fourth marathon, and he said he would make it his last. He had been training almost continually since 2018, having originally intended to run in-person in 2019, and he felt his marathon race was run. He found training alone in unfamiliar places incredibly tough.
For me, the furthest I’ve ever completed was a half marathon of 13.1 miles. My last was the first Maratai Half Marathon in New Zealand. Just 40 minutes drive from Auckland on the incredible Pohutukawa Coast, the run embraces stunning coastline with white sand beaches and includes two regional parks,at Omana and Duders. The event organisers say “A lap around stunning Duders Regional Park does include some modest elevation…” That modest elevation takes in the highest point in the park, the Oturia Trig Point 200+ metres above sea level from which the views are stunning but the climb to and descent from is not.
I made it up, almost crawling on hands and knees the last few yards, admired the view and began to head down. It was not easy and I slipped and slithered, tumbling twice and finding my left knee was complaining bitterly by the time I got back down to sea level. The remainder of the race was hobbling and hopping but I completed it, and the medal was nearly as good as the view.
After that I ended up back in the UK with a knee that didn’t work as well as it might. Treatment for a meniscus injury, a time on crutches, and I’ve managed a few parkruns but nothing longer. Now though the time has come to really test myself, and that knee. It’s my turn to try a marathon, to raise some funds for charity and prove you’re never too old for a challenge.
On 23 April I shall set off not with all the runners in London, but from wherever we end up being moored that day to complete 26.2 miles. It won’t be easy. Hopefully, the left knee and injured right foot will both hold out. Whatever happens, my marathon journey won’t be fast, and it won’t be pretty, I won’t be dressed as a giant brain, and I know I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I may end up jeffing or walking much of the distance but I shall do it to raise funds for MIND which helps so many people improve their mental health. My supporters on the day will be cows and ducks in the main and maybe I’ll meet some other virtual runners en route.
Living afloat brings me joy and peace. Being close to nature and particularly water 24/7 has immense well-being benefits. I am aware that millions of people never have those daily moments of simple joy that I experience and which help to reset my mental compass. I feel the campaigning work of MIND around the triggers of mental distress for millions is essential – workplace stress, debt, poverty, and mental health discrimination.
I aim to put the legwork in to raise funds for MIND – modest funds I appreciate but funds that will make a difference none the less. I don’t have a clue what my route will be, or even where I will be completing my Marathon, but I intend to complete it, litter picking on the way for added purpose even if I am on my hands and knees at the end. Please, if you can spare a pound or two, would you sponsor me to support the work of MIND and spur me on by your generosity?
https://2023virtualtcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/deena-ingham
I won’t be carrying a fridge, a rhino costume, or wearing stilletos, and I don’t like running (although I do like what it does for me mentally and physically) but I vow to complete my marathon, and I shall suffer in the process – not least in training. With your help I aim to slog it out and raise vital funds to help people via Mind.
My longed-for finish won’t be as fast, dramatic or hopefully as irreversible as the original marathon runner’s. When he arrived in Athens – he made his pronouncement, collapsed with exhaustion and died. I need to keep going – we have journeys to make, locks to navigate and more adventures to experience.
Pickingupducks 