The Journey to my 200th Marathon
On 3rd June of this year, Pam Storey reached a remarkable milestone: just days after her 70th birthday, she ran her 200th Marathon! Here she tells us about her incredible journey.
Having never done any sport in my younger days I decided to start running in 1983, primarily to keep fit. After running a few ‘fun runs’, 10 mile races, and Half Marathons, I I ran my first full Marathon in 1986 in a relatively slow time of 4:23:25. I was very pleased with myself! I then got involved with a group of people known as the 100 Marathon Club and continued to run more races of Marathon distance and longer.
I joined Serpentine Running Club in 1999, when I started running Ultras having met Hilary and Jan at races. As I live in West Sussex, I don’t get a chance to train with the club but some of you will know me, as I have helped at the Last Friday 5k a few times, looking after the bags.
I continued to regularly run Marathons around the UK and Europe and I ran my 100th Marathon in Dublin in 2006. I also run Ultra Marathons, with distances up to 100 miles.
This brings me to a really special event that took place recently, just a few days after my 70th birthday - I ran my 200th Marathon!
I love WW2 British aircraft, particularly the Lancaster Bomber, and the 16th - 17th of May this year was the 75th anniversary of Operation Chastise, The Dambusters’ Raid. It seemed like a good time to run a special Marathon!
Therefore, on 3rd June at Reculver on the Kent coast (where Barnes Wallis tested the bouncing bombs), I ran my 200th Marathon in the Dambusters’ Challenge.
It was a very warm, sunny day and I had not run for a month as I had a slight muscle tear in my right calf which, thank goodness, was healed in time for the race. However, my lack of fitness showed and I jog/walked to complete the race in 6:38:06. Job done….
I wonder if my total is a Serpentine record? (Report & photo by Pam Storey)
Submitted: 3 July 2018