First ever Water of Life Marathons raises over £90,000
Murray Pannell was one of 400 runners who helped make this fantsitic total possible, here's what he had to say about the experience:
To be honest, I’m not a great runner – Training started on Boxing Day, so I’d given myself a healthy 3 month window to get my body used to the 13.1 mile distance. Although I was supplied with a comprehensive training schedule as part of the entry package, I basically decided that I would do a couple of mid-week lunchtime runs every week, rounded off with a longer ‘endurance’ run on the weekends.
I was also extremely lucky to get loads of sponsorship support too. I quickly set up a justgiving.com sponsorship page in January. I distributed the sponsorship link to as many friends, work colleagues and family as I could think of. I was overwhelmed by the response and am so please that I managed to raise nearly double my target amount. All thanks to the generosity of everyone who sponsored me.
The day of the event itself was dry and bright – a little bit blustery, but probably ‘perfect running conditions’ for professional athletes, so I felt confident I’d be able to at least complete the course.
The first couple of miles were manageable and I settled into a steady rhythm, about half way around I was feeling pretty bad and at 10 miles I’d virtually ground to a halt. To make matters worse, at this point I calculated I was in real danger of missing my target time. In the final mile I suddenly found myself with a bit of untapped energy.