"Harder than the London Marathon": Helston runner tackles marathon with a difference

On Sunday (26th) was scheduled to be the London Marathon and for Helston resident Melissa Nicholas it was due to be the day she had been training all year for.

It was announced in March that the London Marathon would be postponed with the race scheduled to take place on Sunday 4th October.

Melissa had been approached to run the marathon for Sense as she did last year, a charity for people living with complex disabilities.

Melissa also runs with Hayle runners, a club which she says has improved her training and performance.

Melissa told Nub News:

"There is a few of us from Helston that ran for Sense last year so it was really nice to get the phone call from them, obviously with everything that is going on it has got postponed till October and I had put in so much training this year, my training had gone up a notch and I just had it in my head that I had a goal to achieve."

Walking around the field behind Helston Upper School with her two daughters, Melissa thought the marathon could be done by completing laps of the field, 56 of them to be exact.

Melissa continued:

"I got over there at about half seven on Sunday morning, warmed up and cracked on for a few hours really."

After experiencing the London Marathon and running around the field, Melissa says that the field run is harder than the London event. She said:

"There are not thousands of people there for support, I had my mum, dad, my husband, my kids and my neighbours came over for a short period of time to spur me on.

"The terrain was definitely not as flat as you would imagine, the uneven ground of the field made it quite difficult at times, especially as the miles crept up. It was about 2.5 laps per mile so got a little repetitive."

As Melissa got to the last few miles she said that she didn't think she would make it but knowing she was running for Sense and seeing her family there spurred her on to a sprint finish in 3 hours and 52 minutes. She added:

"The last four or five miles were really tough, if I was to do it again I would make sure my nutrition was a little bit better.

"Knowing that I was doing it for a good cause, and knowing that I had my family and some friends there, my husband ran a couple of laps with me in the last hour of running and also my dad who ran 10 miles of it, the last quarter of a mile was really tough so I had my dad one side and my husband the other side.

"I just think the amount of people that have been supportive has been great.

"It has been lovely to know that people that you know and complete strangers are behind you and will support you."

Click here to make a donation.