Sophie Anderson, having completed several events for Madness 4 Mike this year, took to the roads of Chester to complete her first ever marathon for the cause. St Ann's Hospice holds a special place in her heart too, as they also cared for her mum Jean before she died.
Here is her account of why she wanted to challenge herself with a MARATHON and be part of our team this year!
Sophie Anderson
When I heard about Sammy’s idea to raise money for St Ann’s
Hospice and Help the Hospices in memory of her Dad, I knew I wanted to be part
of it. My mum also spent time at St
Ann’s before she lost her battle with cancer 15 years ago, so sadly I know just
how Sammy feels. I pledged 100k towards
the Madness 4 Mike: 2014 in 2014 challenge, but hoped I could do a lot more. I’ve done a fair bit of running over the past
few years, but I stepped it up a gear last September when I joined Lymm Runners
running club. My first proper race of
2014 was the Blackpool Half Marathon, a lovely flat route, but my goodness it
was windy! Through the spring and early
summer I continued with running club and local races - so far, so easy. However, come May/June time there was a lot
of talk at Lymm Runners of doing the Chester Marathon in October. A number of the team had manned a water
station at the Manchester marathon in April and loved the atmosphere so much
they wanted to run one for themselves. As
I didn’t want to miss out I agreed to sign up too! Lots of talk of training plans ensued and I
settled on mine, printed it out and stuck it on my fridge so there was no
hiding from it! Over the next 16 weeks I
ran about 4 times a week including a long run at the weekend. I built up my distance to 22 miles three
weekends before the race. Over the next
three weeks I tapered my runs down so that come race day I was feeling
rested.
The day before “M-day” we were all beset with nerves, and
couldn’t wait to get running! After a
restless night, my alarm went off at 6.15am and I got read to catch the minibus
to Chester with my fellow runners. It
was a bright but chilly morning, great running weather! We got ready, dropped our bags off, had
several “nervous wee’s” and then we were lining up on the Chester racecourse
ready to start. Before we knew it, we
were off! I soon found my rhythm and
started clocking up the miles. A lot of
the course is a bit of a blur as I was concentrating so much on pacing myself
and keeping hydrated & energised. We
wound our way out of Chester and into the countryside and at some point we
entered Wales. All the way round the
course the support was fantastic – the marshals on the course, the water
station attendants and the spectators were all absolutely brilliant. They cheered everyone on, and I got lots of
people cheering my name (as it was on my race number). It made so much difference especially near
the end…..which brings me to near the end….
up until mile 18 I felt great, my pace was steady and I was really
enjoying it. At mile 18 I stopped and
had a little stretch and a drink, and then carried on. I still felt ok, but I was getting tired and
starting to ache. By mile 22 I was
starting to really hurt, my pace slowed and there were a few more walking rests
as I got nearer the end. Somewhere in
the last couple of miles was a very unwelcome hill, but I kept plodding
on. Seeing my boyfriend at about 25.5
miles lovely and gave me the boost needed to keep going. Finally I was back on the racecourse and
heading for the finish, at last! I received
my medal, T shirt and goody bag and then staggered to find my fellow runners
and boyfriend. I’d done it! After 16 weeks of training, I’d completed by
first marathon in 4.12:17. Tired but
happy probably summed up my feelings!
The sponsorship kept coming for a couple of weeks post race, and I was
very pleased to add over £600 to the Madness for Mike fund. All in all it was a brilliant experience and
I’m seriously tempted to run Manchester Marathon in April 2015……
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