Our friend Jane was beyond excited when she won a place in the ballot for the London Marathon, back in 2020.  Then, the pandemic took over and her place was paused.

On Sunday 23rd April, FOP Awareness Day, Jane was finally able to put on her trainers, hit the streets of London, and run the race of her life.  Here she shares her experience:

“I thought I’d share this. It gives you a sense of the London marathon. It’s very, very busy. You have to concentrate so as not to run into slower or faster runners. The pain in your legs is crazy but there’s no point stopping because it still hurts. You do crazy maths in your head about time and distance. This is during one of the quieter bits. There are times your ears hurt with the noise. You really don’t know how your brain is still able to get your legs to go. You know it’s only another 1k. By this point most non elite runners have run 26.1 miles. You can keep the ideal line because of so many people. Running past Big Ben was when my watch told me my 26.2 miles were done, but you can’t stop. People you don’t know are shouting your name and you are dreaming of laying down anywhere. You look ahead to try and get the shortest line and avoid water bottles and puddles.
A little voice from a message I received from an FOP child rings in my head “You can do this!” and you see the little girl in the blue dress who you wish with all your heart could get your medal and a cure at the same time.
And you think how brave she and her family are so you keep going, hoping that your race will help shorten her race for a cure and speed up its discovery.

Thank you for getting me across the line, Alanna and all your amazing FOP Friends.”