My Story:

I signed up to do the London Marathon in 2022. When

I did this, I didn't really know what I signed up for and didn't really think about what it meant I had to do. However, it gave me a sense of purpose and real joy! Before running the race, I signed up for the next year's ballot too.

My Mum passed away in January 2023 and one of my last memories of my mum was her telling the people on the ward about "my boy that ran the marathon". I know my mum was always proud of me and my brothers but it was really nice to hear her talk about a sporting achievement in this way. A memory I will cherish forever.

I was then fortunate enough to run the race in 2023 as well. I ran for the hospital that looked after my mum and raised over £1,200. However, Thursday night before the race on the Sunday I came down with a sick bug. I managed to still travel down and see how I felt then on the Saturday/Sunday. When I woke on the Saturday I felt a bit better and throughout the day ate some food (nowhere near enough though). Due to me running for a charity I thought I'd still give it a go.

Starting the race I was fine, I got through the first half relatively unscathed. I was slower but that is what I expected, I just wanted to get round. However, as I approached Canary Wharf, I started to feel ill. I didn't have enough reserves in my body. I got through Canary Wharf and then started to panic as I felt dizzy. I remember stopping and calling Jess to say that I couldn't complete this race. She tried to encourage but knew in my voice that I was pretty set on giving up at this point. She convinced me to go in a St Johns Ambulance tent.

I did. I sat down and the first thing that the guy said to me when I said I can't do this, was, "I'll be honest, I think you can! You look like you are panicking and actually compared to the people I've seen today, you'll finish." They looked after me for about 30 minutes, gave me some sugar and set me on my way. I then had somebody buy me a croissant, a Mars bar and an energy drink. Although I was starting to eat these, I still felt the same. I decided to go into the next St John Ambulance tent.

When I did, the first thing the people said to me was, "you are going to finish this". In the moment, I wanted to quit for sure, however, they kept telling me I could do it. I probably had less than 4 miles to go at this point. Again, they gave me sweets and a blanket to keep me warm as I had started to shake at this point as it had been raining earlier on in the day.

I then managed to walk the rest with some people I met along the way. I felt very lucky when I got to the end of the race and the only reason I finished was for the St John Ambulance team.

I know that if I had not finished the race it would have been a very damning blow for me personally. My mum wouldn't have cared at all, in fact she would have called me stupid for doing it in the first place, told me not to, and would have been worried sick.

Finally, I have my medal displayed in my kitchen next to my 2022 medal. They both have meaning and I am incredibly proud of both of these achievements. I owe a lot to this Charity for getting me that second one! Therefore, I have decided to run this race once more. I feel that this is another way of running for my Mum whilst supporting this great charity that helped me.

Thank you.

St John Ambulance

Feel free to look at the website to find out all of the amazing things that the St John Ambulance team do:

https://www.sja.org.uk/