I have been running for about a decade now and have done a lot of races. A few years ago I did my first marathon in Dublin, which went well but I got injured not too long after and didn’t run for a while. In 2012 I felt ready again to run another marathon and decided to give myself an extra challenge and do an off road race, Farnham Pilgrim Marathon.
I live in Brixton so training in London for a hilly off road race was quite tricky to say the least. Tourists, traffic, bins, dogs – you name it, I ran into it. But I tried to find as many hills as I could, ran with a backpack and did spinning to build up my muscles.
The race was in Farnham, Surrey and the day was perfect for running – not too hot or cold. The race was completely different than anything I’d done before. There were narrow paths where you could only run single file, bushes and trees galore, plenty of sharp turns and sandy steep hills.
The nature of the route and only 500 runners meant that there were very few spectators, which meant my motivation had to come from somewhere else.
Fortunately the stunning scenery of the countryside made the route interesting and whilst there were a lot of sandy hills to trudge up, it meant there were some hills I could stumble down! I also ran through and near fields of cows, alpacas and bulls – which were definitely not in the race description!
There weren’t any mile markers until near the end so I wasn’t sure how I was doing until the 21 mile point. When I did get to that point I knew I could get to the finish line.
I’d read all the messages people had written on my fundraising page before the race to remind myself of the support I had to spur me on and who and what I was running for, and I suddenly got a sprint in me. I overtook quite a few people, including some guys that looked like they were in the army and shouted “top effort” at me, so got more of a buzz.
The last mile was all up hill which was a killer but I made it. I passed the finish line in a respectable 3 hours 56 minutes – slower than my last marathon, but given the nature of the race I was happy with my achievement.
Later I found out I got runner up in my category, women aged 21-30, and got a lovely trophy.
I did the marathon for CRY in memory of Michael Yendall, who at the young age of 19 tragically died suddenly after his heart stopped on August 27th 2011. Michael was a fit and healthy 19 year old with a promising future ahead of him, being a level 6 football referee and due to complete an apprenticeship.
I know his and my family have struggled with the painful loss of Michael. I know nothing I or anyone else can do will take away the pain his friends and family have felt, but I was honoured his parents Tracy and David gave their support to me to fundraise in his memory to such a great charity.
In the end, with the incredible support of my friends and family, I raised £1,400 including Gift Aid for CRY I hope this will make a difference to those affected by sudden death syndrome and their loved ones.
Sophie Bennett