An Abbots Langley resident beat the pain of pounding 26.2 miles of concrete to complete his first Marathon last month. Simon Fellows, 25, of the High Street, joined over 20,000 other runners in completing the inaugural London Marathon, finishing in a respectable five hours and two minutes.
Simon, who works in recruitment, ran the popular event for the Help for Hospices charity, and admits that the challenge was a lot tougher than expected. He told My Abbots News: “I was hoping for a better time if I’m honest, but it was really tough. I had only run about 18-19 miles in the lead up to the event which took me about three hours, so I was hoping for around four and a half hours.” Simon’s task was made more difficult when work colleague and running partner, Gareth Clark, struggled with a leg injury, which meant both had stages where they had to walk. “I ran with Gareth for quite a while before deciding at 16 miles to kick on” said Simon. “I hit a wall myself at about 23 miles, but the crowd were just awesome and kept me going.” Simon applauded the role the spectators play in the event, stating how many offer sweets and biscuits along the route to keep your sugar levels up. “I don’t think I’ve seen so many people before,” he said. “Every pub we ran past had live music and it was also nice to have a few of the lads and my family cheering me on – it really was a great day.” Like many, one of the first things Simon said when completing the race was that he would never run it again. However, after getting over the pain in his legs a few days later, he entered the ballot for next year and hopes to convince a few others to get involved. He concluded: “I’ll see if I can get a few of the boys along, but I doubt they will be up for it if I’m honest.” Simon is still raising money for the Help for Hospices charity, so why not spare a few quid and donate on his webpage, www.justgiving.co.uk/simon_fellows.
An Abbots Langley resident beat the pain of pounding 26.2 miles of concrete to complete his first Marathon last month. Simon Fellows, 25, of the High Street, joined over 20,000 other runners in completing the inaugural London Marathon, finishing in a respectable five hours and two minutes.