Everybody Sport and Recreation Member Micheline takes on the London Virtual 40th Marathon and shares “Over a decade of membership with Everybody has been the canvas of this achievement.”
“Sitting in front of the tele, watching people running the London Marathon, thinking with envy “what an experience it could be.” Micheline shares.
“It took the pandemic heat and a good helping hands from so many to bring this to a boiling completion on Sunday 6th October ’20 when London Virtual 40th Marathon came to Nantwich/Crewe!”
Being a busy mum and professional at the time, Micheline joined Everybody Sport and Recreation for convenience of nearby sites with wide range of classes.
Micheline shares: “Those classes evolved and morphed in time, and so did the fabric of friendship developing with members. It is easy to overhear classes participants muttering to each other that they often made the effort to attend because of the group and/or friends. And gradually fitness and friendship outgrew the pot to set to community challenges.”
This started with Everybody Sport and Recreation instructor Helen Spencer initiative of taking members on a Pretty Muddy trail for Cancer Research. The dream of the London Marathon was still there for Micheline, she booked in apprehension and then realised “I better start running if I wanted to survive the challenge 12 months later if offered a place. I set a half in between, in October, by which time we would know the outcome of the ballot.
I chose Cornwall because of never visited before; that’s when my friends pointed out to me that it was one of the most challenging half due to the hills! I didn’t make the cut for the London ballot then, but I had committed to the Eden Project Half.”
Micheline used Les Mills Body Pump to build strength, Combat and Dance for cardio and “all for the usual fun with members”, running to the gym and joined the South Cheshire Harriers. “I delivered the Half Marathon Eden Project on my own, with pride and for MacMillan.”
“This year the pandemic threw a big spanner on the wheels of our lives. But it brought some silver linings; shining of the kindness of people to each other and London Marathon 40th edition becoming virtual. The ballot was extended to some 45,000 people, me included! Woohoo!!! Oh dear…”
“Do you really think my gym friends would leave me running a marathon locally without support? We held socially distant meetings to inject some logistic in a mind increasingly vulnerable to drift in apprehension.”
On the day, Micheline shares she was calm and excited and her gym buddies were out of bed early. “My feet knew the drill, and carried me faithfully a good 10miles. Then they started to protest. With still so long to go, the calves went on strike, painfully and properly seized up. But my friends managed to re-start the engine, coaxing me forward.”
“It took the expertise of 2 Everybody instructors on their free time, Helen Spencer and Marianne Haines, and the brilliance of so many to keep going.”
Micheline shares “It is our achievement” and over £1000 was raised for St-Luke’s Hospice!
Do you have a challenge you want to achieve like Micheline? Everybody Sport and Recreation can help you achieve those goals! Visit www.everybody.org.uk to find out more.