Journey to the London Marathon 2023
Written by Jade Fawcett, Level 1 Cycling coach, athlete and outstanding marathon runner… if this doesn’t inspire you, nothing will.
I got into running by accident. I was in Year 7 at school when two of my best friends asked me to fill in on the Cross Country Team because their other team member was ill. I must have enjoyed it because I stayed on the team. I’m not sure I contributed anything to it, but we ended up winning the Sheffield School’s league for our age group division – I still have the newspaper cutting!
I really enjoyed sport when I was younger – whether it be athletics, gymnastics, trampolining or hockey. I was inspired by some talented athletes at my school, including England Cricketer Joe Root, and Olympic Champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill. We had a school Sports Day record board for track and field and I remember looking at it in awe with all the unbeaten records from Jess who was 2 years above me. In Year 8, I started training at the English Institute of Sport with an Olympic Decathlete. I really enjoyed hurdles and triple jump, but he was quite keen on turning us into mini heptathlete’s – never going to happen with my lack of sprinting and throwing!
After moving to London for my first grad job, I was inspired to enter the 2015 London Marathon. I was keen to beat my dad’s marathon of 3:59:59. The training was littered with injuries but I was inspired by my grandad, who I would often pass on training runs whilst he was sat outside, listening to the Sheffield Wednesday commentary, cigarette roll up in hand. He was a talented athlete when he was younger, and I remember him shouting “well there’s no point running downhill, you need to get running up hill”. I completed the race (after the realisation that a marathon was in fact not 40km… I knew the finish line was just after Big Ben, and I still hadn’t seen it!!) in 04:21:00.
Since 2015, I have run a marathon every year since. After Budapest in 2018, I felt my progress had reached a bit of a plateau. This is when I enlisted the help of a professional running coach through Adam Clarke and Charlotte Purdue at Purdue Performance. Their expert training and support took my previous marathon PB from 3:44:05 at Nottingham, to 3:34:19 at Chicago. I have now been training with Purdue Performance for just over four years. They have not only helped me to become a more consistent runner through a 1-2-1 tailored training programme, but they have also created a fabulous running community, with regular team meet ups, events, webinars and access to strength and conditioning apps.It’s hard to not get caught up in always chasing down a new PB, and whilst I am not someone who expects to PB at every race and at every difference, I have come very close (1 second close!) to getting marathon PBs. This made the 2023 London Marathon extra special, when I finally broke my 2019 PB at Chicago, coming in at 03:31:19.
Fast forward to 2023, and I have now completed 12 marathons. I have been lucky enough to run London 7 times, as well as travelling further afield to Budapest, Chicago, Berlin, Seville (and Nottingham!). Away from marathons, I like to get involved with Park Run, and have paced several 10km events. I hope to get my dog involved in some of my easy runs, but I am still trying to persuade her!
