Carol's Marathon Challenge

Care Assistant, Carol, ran everyday for 10 days, the equivalent to a marathon a day! Carol shares her story, and also how she overcame her fear of going under water.

"I always ran at school and then later in life to get fit, and I found it to be a great stress relief. I used to own a post office, so running would set me up for the day before work. I've completed many races of different distances, from 1 mile to 85 miles.

Earlier in April this year, I joined 69 other like-minded people to run every day for 10 days along the tow path at Walton-on-Thames. This is the second time I've run this event and my aim was to do one ultra a day over 10 days, that is anything over 29 miles. Well I started out well for days 1 to 3 and covered 30 plus miles. Then I slowed down days 4 to 9 due to the heat, and I covered 26.6 miles of running. Day 9 was my 50th marathon to date and it felt great! Due to picking up a foot injury, days 8 to 10 were a mixture of walking and running, with the 10th day being all walking. I had a fantastic time and the weather was sunny. 

When I was a younger I was afraid of getting my face wet and going under water, then in 2018 I took party in an aquathon event at the London Olympic Park. After sitting on the side of the pool afraid to get in, the time had come to overcome my fear. I've learnt to not only put my face under water, but to also swim under water. Back in 2020, I did the new year's day swim at Stokes Bay which has now turned into a weekly sea swim on Wednesday nights. I'm also looking forward to my first river swim. Since running my first marathon in 2008 in London, I have always ran for charity and for the last 2 years I've run on behalf of Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS)."

What an inspiration, well done Carol!