26: the magical number
2009
On Sunday 26 April, 26 BackCare runners completed the 26 miles of the London Marathon. A few comments on these three magical 26s
26 April: 
the big day. I’d like to say that I put in 26 weeks of training, but I didn’t… My 16-week training was to prepare me from an ‘OK’ runner to a marathon runner. A holiday on the beautiful island of ‘Terschelling’ in the week after Christmas was the perfect start of my training, but on my return to London a foot of snow literally got in the way. Great fun all that snow, but not good for my training runs. But training couldn’t be postponed and the big day was coming closer fast. Before I knew it, I was on the 07.56 train from London Charing Cross to Greenwich together with thousands of runners. Greenwich Park was buzzing with final preparations for the race, sports drinks were everywhere and Vaseline in places where there is no daylight. The great atmosphere continued all the way to The Mall where the finish was located. Yes it was warm, yes it was long, yes it was painful, but it was all worth it!
26 BackCare runners:
our team. London Marathon places are highly valued and we were therefore very pleased to obtain two extra places in this year’s race, bringing the total number of BackCare places to 33. Unfortunately injury struck seven runners and 26 runners appeared at the start. Being injured is never much fun, but if you realise that two runners had to pull out in the week before the marathon, you can imagine how devastated they felt. Nevertheless they both commented that their training had been worthwhile and, at times, enjoyable. Training for a Marathon requires self-discipline, commitment and a pinch of stupidity. For the actual race you have tens of thousand of supporters cheering you on, you run with thousands of people just as mad as you, and there is no way you are giving up. However, training runs are very different; they are long, cold, sometimes wet, and it is only when you are lucky that someone shouts ‘oi, mate, keep those knees up!’ Once you have completed your weeks of training, you deserve a medal.
26 miles (and 385 yards):
very long. The Marathon originates from ancient Greece where the story goes that after the battle of Marathon, a messenger called Pheidippides ran to Athens to let the people know that the Persians had been defeated. The distance between Marathon and Athens is approximately 26 miles (42 kilometres), although there is a short-cut that takes you over the mountain instead of around it. This short-cut is about four miles shorter and on the 26 April I really wished that Pheidippides had taken this route… But then, with such a shorter route I may have missed the great support in Canary Wharf, or perhaps the little loop around Cutty Sark. There is not a single yard I would have wanted to miss of the 2009 London Marathon.
All 26 BackCare runners have their own stories and we can’t fill this edition of Talkback with just marathon stories, but a few stand out. Lauren Siepiela was born with spina bifida, underwent a number of spinal fusion operations and was told she would not be able to walk. But she ran this year’s London Marathon in an excellent time (4:14) and raised almost £5,000 for BackCare. Such stories are simply inspiring.
The BackCare team included first time runners and real running ‘freaks’, but all achieved their goal, being to finish the marathon once in their lifetime or to set a new personal best. Congratulations to all and many thanks for the great fundraising. At the time of writing the money is still coming in but we hope to beat our target of £45,000.
If you feel inspired: BackCare has 25 places for the Virgin London Marathon in 2010…. I can highly recommend it to you! I may even do it again…
Thank you to our runners: Victoria Ball, Ruth Banning, Andrew Brown, Oliver Clark, Anthony Coleman, Stefano Difrancesco, Adam Elston, Sarah Forrest, Dez Gorringe, Matthew Harrison, Dries Hettinga, Andrew Hill, Graham Hornsby, Nick Jackson, Catherine O’Brien, David Pearce, Matthew Poulter, Craig Rayton, Brian Robinson, George Sampson, Zak Saurin, Lauren Siepiela, Andy Thorp, Antony Tinker, Lucy Traynor, Hugh Wade-Jones, and the many supporters along the route.