I’m running Paris marathon for Cancer Research

Back in 2013, I started training for the 2014 Paris marathon. The idea was floated by two colleagues who were taking on the challenge for the second time and talked me into joining them. For the following six months, the three of us spent a lot of time running and racing. There were lunchtime river runs by the office, speed training sessions at the local gym, six half-marathons in as many weeks during the summer, a 10k in a flooded hippodrome under diluvian rain that my shoes never recovered from and an « iceman » 10-miler on military grounds in sub-zero temperatures that took us hours to thaw out from, sitting in the car with the heater on full blast, sipping hot coffee and eating petrol-station sandwiches, talking about gels and cadence and shoes, and already planning our next race.

Eleven years on, and after swearing that one marathon in a lifetime is enough, I’m taking on the challenge again. I signed up not long after attending one those friends memorial service. I’d lost touch with him after we changed jobs and moved further away and didn’t know he had been sick, and the news that he died of cancer age 44 was quite a shock. I thought re-running that route would be a good way to honour his memory and at the same time raise funds for Cancer Research.

He won’t be the only one I’m thinking about while I plod past the Parisian landmarks. Each and every one of us is impacted by cancer in one way or another, and I’ll keep all of those fighting the disease, recovering from it, gone or grieving because of it, and those working towards curing it, in my thoughts. We’re somewhat powerless against the path of destruction it generates day-in, day-out, and I hope that with each step closer to the line I get, with each pound donated towards research, we get that little bit closer to finding a cure.

If you’d like to help me raise money towards this cause, you can do so here, and I would be very grateful!

Thanks,

Barb x