It is a race that I have never completed all of, though I have run several legs of the relay along its changing course. My late father also entered team of members of the Boys' Brigade in the event through the years.
In 2007 I got a phone call while at work in Edinburgh to come home quickly as my father who had walked into hospital the previous night for a routine appointment did not have long left and was in the Marie Curie Centre in Belfast. Those of you who know me will know that I didn't make it in time, although I was flying over Belfast I used my local knowledge to work out from the street lights just where he was and said "I'm on my way dad," little knowing that was the time that he had breathed his last.
The former runner in me has had itchy feet especially since my father passed on to do something that will raise money for Marie Curie in memory of my father. That is why I have set myself the task of running twice as far as I have ever run before (and that was when I was training a full programme). So on 6th May 2013 I will be lining up outside Belfast City Hall ready to face 26 miles 385 yards to get to Ormeau Park in what will be the longest mile and a bit of my life*.
I'm not expecting to run my first marathon anywhere near as fast as the twenty year old me thought I would do when I stepped up to that distance, but that is not the point. The point is that I am doing to raise funds for Marie Curie. I trust that a lot of my friends will help me raise the target that I have set. So with 200 days I reckon £5 a day is a reasonable target. You can donate to my Just Giving Page by clicking on the link below.
* The actual distance from start line to finish is about 1.5miles by the shortest walkable route.
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