Michelle Singer

My knees held out after all!

Fundraising for Leukaemia UK
£2,807
raised of £2,500 target
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Event: Flora London Marathon 2007, on 22 April 2007
Leukaemia UK

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We believe research has the power to stop leukaemia devastating lives.

Story

What did you do on Sunday?  It was a glorious, sunny day.  Terribly hot for the time of year, you know.  Of course, some idiots were dragging themselves round the city of London for 26.2 miles of sheer hell.  I was one of them.

I can quite honestly say I have never experienced anything quite like it before.  And I don’t mean that in a good way.  If ever there were a time for hyperbole, then that was it.  It was the hottest, hardest, most painful experience of my life.  As I ran, I kept thinking “this is my own, personal hell!”

Other runners began to fall by the wayside from as early as mile 3 which, frankly, is pathetic when you’re undertaking 26.2!  Seeing Dad at 7.5 miles was great, as was spying Kate and Lizzie shortly after.  I was bang on target for a sub-3:55 time all the way through ‘til mile 14 when I was so hot and with my right gleut and left quad conspiring to see which could cause me the most pain I had to stop and walk for a bit.  I could hear my friend Ben Hurley advising me to try to slow rather than stop as once you stop, it’s so very much harder to start again…but start again I did.  On and off, for the next NINE miles!

Team Singer were out at mile 17, by which time I wanted to cry.  A lot.  I stopped to chat to them, managing to blurt out something about it being ‘awful’ and that they needed to tell my mum I wasn’t going to make my time target so I’d be late to Embankment.  I’ve little idea what they said back to me but I will never forget how good it felt to see them!  

Other supporters, on the other hand…had I have had the energy, I could have cheerfully strangled all those cigarette-smoking, beer-swilling, barbeque-enjoying, sun-bathing supporters who called out my name as I dragged myself through the streets of London .  I could have cried at the number of jelly babies offered, which I longed for but couldn’t eat (they’re not vegetarian), or the number of times I wanted to stop, or avoid the idiots criss-crossing my path, or the number of bottles and gel packets I had to swerve to miss along the course.  I was making rather alarming and involuntary grunting noises and with each mile marker I passed, I just kept checking them off and telling myself I was closer and closer to the finish…

I’d said that, if I needed to pee, I’d just go as I ran - I wasn’t going to stop.  By mile 18, I was really rather struggling, having taken a little more water than I needed.  I couldn’t bring myself to just do it down my legs (I’d been thinking about it for quite some time) so stopped off in one of the portaloos.  Blessed relief!

I didn’t see anyone I knew again ‘til Lower Thames Street.  With 3.2 miles to go, I knew I would see Team Singer, my mum, my brother and other friends so I couldn’t stop.  So I ran and I kept running.  It hurt but I was so close to the end I could smell it…or maybe that was just the sweaty bodies around me.  Anyway, seeing Ben H and his gang, then Mum and David was the boost I needed.  Knowing Team Singer would spring up any minute made me run on (solely to look good, you understand).  Then I passed Lizzie, Sophia and Kate again and kept running.  “Team Singer must be a little further down…” I thought as I kept running…and running…until I realised I was into Birdcage Walk and at the ‘800m to go’ mark!  I sprinted the final 250m and crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 20 minutes and 42 seconds.

Then came the tears.  A lot of them.  Like a ruddy torrent and they didn’t stop.  I was exhausted and I wanted my mummy!  The first random person who congratulated me made me cry again. I found flatmate Stuart and cried, got a message to Mum and then crumpled when I saw my Dad.  It was over and I had the medal round my neck to prove it.

When I made it back to Embankment more than an hour and a half after I’d finished, there were STILL people running and I was horrified/astonished and cried all over again, looking like some kind of foil-wrapped, wet-faced nutter.  I arrived onboard the Queen Mary to a massive round of applause and cheers from Team Singer.  The balloons and friendship was overwhelming and I fell into Mum’s arms, crying uncontrollably and uttering the moving words “I’m absolutely f*cked!” (I ought to have been a poet).

From Carolyn’s dancing the YMCA with me that morning (to the bemused looks of other runners, busying themselves with Vaseline and warm-ups), to the pleasure of removing my trainers and socks at the end (and the realisation that a promising career as a foot model is now well and truly over), it was a day to remember and I can now rightfully say I AM A MARATHON RUNNER!! 

 

 

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About the charity

Leukaemia UK

Verified by JustGiving

RCN 1154856
For over 40 years, Leukaemia UK has been making a difference to those living with blood cancer by funding essential emotional support, key hospital facilities, giving critical financial relief and funding innovative research into better care and treatments for blood cancers.

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£2,486.40
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£320.00

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