My Story

I feel very proud and honoured, to gain a fundraising place for the Royal Osteoporosis Society, to run the London Marathon on Sunday 21st April 2024!!!

Being told at the age of 50, that I had Osteopenia came as a bit of a shock.  Osteopenia is the early stage of Osteoporosis, but it might not progress to it.  However, with a afamily history of Osteoporosis, I am not sitting back and taking that risk and am doing what I can to keep it a bay.

The advise is to have high calcium foods, vitamin D, do weight bearing exercise - 30 minutes walk a day, plus to lift weights.

Fortunatley for me, I had aready discovered the joy of running with the support of 261 Fearless, in November 2017. 261 Fearless help women with their running technique, get women to move more, through games and build confidence. I have since become a running coach with 261 Fearless.  I was delighted to know that running would be of a great benefit to me.

Having previously run half marathons, when given the opportunity in 2020 to run the London Marathon virtually, with 6 weeks training, I grabbed it.  So, on Sunday 4th October 2020, I set off in the pouring rain, with my running buddy, to run the distance of the London Marathon from my doorstep!

My running buddy, had gained a club ballot entry to the prvious year London Marathon, which had been postponed, so was training for the London Marthon to take place on Sunday 3rd October 2021.  So, I decided to run the virtual London Marathon again on the same day, gaining what the full real Marathon training felt like.

In 2022 and 2023, I have gone to support friends and runners on the London Marthon course.  However, this only gave me the urge to want to run the real thing even more.

So, last July, I reached out to the Royal Osteoporosis Society to see if they had any charity spaces.  I recieved word back that their spaces were full, but I would be placed on a waiting list.  I thought that would be the last I heard, only to be contacted 2 weeks later and advised, that a place had become available.

In that one moment in time, my thoughts went from:

Elation - I finally after applying for the a ballot place in the London Marathon for a number of years, get to run in the race of my dreams!

Horror - it's a long way to run and the training is intense

Worry - it's a lot of money to raise

Excitement - it's something to work towards and look forward to and raise money for a worthy cause along the way

Since I have told people I am raising money for the Royal Osteoporsis Society, I have been surprised to know that there are a lot more of my friends and family affected by the disease.

The Royal Osteoporosis Society have been so supportive and full of advice since my diagnosis, it's now time to give back.

I am really looking forward to the challenge of training for the London Marthon, even better, knowing that I am raising money for a worthy cause, one that is very close to my heart.

Thank you for all your support, it truely means a lot. Marie