51st Marathon to fundraise during a pandemic

CORRECTION: - it's actually my 4th Marathon in 15 years. But I'm planning to celebrate 51st birthday this Saturday (31/10/2020) by running a marathon. I'm running a solo marathon on Hackney Marshes, to raise money and awareness for Solace Women’s Aid. Solace Women’s Aid works to prevent violence and abuse as well as providing services to meet the needs of survivors, particularly women and girls. They work alongside survivors to achieve independent lives free from abuse. During the Covid-19 lockdown, I started run-commuting more often, to avoid public transport. With all this extra running, I realised I was in shape to run a marathon. But due to the current restrictions, all official runs - from 5ks to Marathons - are currently cancelled – which also means a lot of charities are losing out on fundraising opportunities. I also realised I couldn’t celebrate my up-coming birthday with friends and family due to the new Covid-19 rules. So, I decided to turn this double negative into a positive by celebrating my 51st birthday by running a solo marathon, barefoot, in Hackney Marshes and raising money for Solace Women’s Aid.

With over 15 years of long-distance barefoot running, a solo marathon is an especially difficult challenge. It's much easier to do an official marathon. All the other runners and spectators carry you along. There’s a connection with other runners that really helps – especially towards the end, you just drag each other over the finishing line. Here's a photo from the Porto Half Marathon with some friends who I ran it with last year. An excellent day. I hope that the knowledge that I’m helping raise money for a cause that’s important to me, will help see me through the harder parts of this tough challenge. I’m really keen to finish this no matter how hard it will be. PLEASE SPONSOR ME BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK!