Neither myself nor my husband Grant had ever run before, so signing up for the Brighton Marathon 2011 with the Mayo Wynne Baxter Corporate Team was always going to be something of a challenge.  After much encouragement from our three sporty teenage kids, of course we had to rise to that challenge.  With Chestnut Tree as our charity partner, the fund raising started in earnest and we are so proud, along with the other team members to have raised over £2,200 for the charity, which is absolutely fantastic. 

The months leading up to the big day on April 10 2011 involved many, many hours of evenings and weekend training which built up progressively as we counted down the weeks.   This was a massive time commitment which couldn’t be shied away from if we were to have any hope of running the marathon successfully.   I can remember saying to one of my colleagues and fellow, more experienced runners “I ran 2.5 miles this weekend!” and she commented on how soon we would be running 10 miles, which at the time we just could not  imagine.  Before we knew it, we were running 10 miles at the weekend, then 15, then 20.  Unfortunately Grant suffered a knee injury and was unable to train for the last four weeks prior to the race which, after months of running up and down the Cuckoo Line together was going to be a real wrench for both of us not to be able to run together on the day.  The knee started to get a little better in the week of the race, so we went over the start line together on what was a beautiful sunny day, with the rest of the team.  The atmosphere on race day was truly brilliant, with crowds lining the route – even out at Shoreham which we had been warned would be the hardest part to run.  Everyone along the route was so encouraging you couldn’t help but smile on your way around – and seeing Noddy, Buzz Lightyear, soldiers with full back packs, firemen carrying their full body weight and even Spongebob Squarepants along the way made it all the more atmospheric.  A truly great effort from everyone involved, with all of our team making it over the finish line. 

So, we are all now the very proud owners of Marathon medals, lovely silvery blankets, but most importantly very elated to have raised such a great amount of money for such a fantastic cause, thanks to wonderful family, friends and colleagues.

Will we do it again?….never say never!

By Liz Chatfield

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