Thorn In Paw Slows Lion Rae

For the Wear Valley Mercury (Oct 29)

Grin and bear it: Rachel smiles through the pain 20 miles in.

By Ryan Pilot

Pain shot from her hip after six miles - she knew what had happened - but Rachel also knew she had to limp 20 more to commemorate her three late relatives.

Rachel Glendenning fundraised and trained for the Kielder Marathon for months, planning to run in memory of three relatives who died of cancer. The Mercury first reported on her plans in August.

But she was ordered not to do any long distance running just a week before the race by her doctor after being diagnosed with a join condition.

Ignoring advice, the headstrong 22-year-old from Willington - now living in Stanley Crook - took part anyway.

Rachel said: "My hip gave out at about six miles, which meant I limped up to twenty miles. Then I couldn't pull my right leg any further than straight - so I was pulling myself along with my left leg. So it was a bit traumatic!

"I'm quite stubborn. There was no chance I wasn't going to finish. No matter how much it hurt, I was gonna be finishing.

"I'd raised just in excess of £2,000 and there just wasn't a chance that I wasn't going to be earning that money.

"I would've felt like a bit of a con - people sponsored us to do it and if I hadn't have finished, I wouldn't have felt like I'd earned it.

"A big thank you to all who sponsored me. I never thought I'd raise this much."

Rachel was one of only 240 females to finish out of 934 runners.

It took her nearly six hours as her hip got gradually worse as the gruelling, off-road course went on.

She has hypermobility, which causes her joints to move further than they should. Her condition is mild, but caused agony as each mile took its toll.

At each checkpoint Rachel was asked if she was OK, but insisted she was fine.

Tachel was spurred on by the memory of her aunt Tracy Alderson, gran Pat Alderson and great aunt Judith Matthews, nee Alderson, who all recently died within nine months of each other from cancer.

She said: "If I wasn't running for Cancer Research I wouldn't given in.

"The fact that it was the memory of them and for that cause was definitely on my mind."

Rachel's mum and step dad Julie and Stephen Staples walked the last mile with her, and - although concerned by the state she was in - knew she wouldn't stop.

Rachel said: "They were supportive, obviously, they knew my mindset - that there wasn't an option that I wasn't going to do it and they were really proud."

Despite the remarkable achievement of finishing, Rachel was disappointed by her time of five hours and 50 minutes at the end of the race.

She said: "The first thing I asked for were painkillers, I didn't celebrate or anything, I was really dissappointed with how long it took me.

"Because if my hip hadn't given out I could have done it a lot quicker - finished." Exhaused and hurting, Rachel visited her doctor after the long drive to Wear Valley then headed home to rest ahead of work the next day.

Rachel limped around Durham Sixth Form College, where she is a student support assistant, until las Thursday and craved junk food after her "nightmare" ordeal.

She laughed: "On Monday afternoon I had to go and get dinner, because I hadn't taken any, and I thought 'I just need a Burger King, I need something really fatty and calorific!'

"So I had to toddle off into town and that was quite uncomfortable, I must say."

Rachel supports students with special educational needs, such as those with dyslexia or ADHD and received the full support of her colleagues. She said: "They were very pleased that I was OK and very proud that I'd finished."

Surprisingly, Rachel insists she enjoyed the experience. She said: "IT was just a nightmare quite honestly. I enjoyed it, as much as it was a nightmare, I enjoyed it."

Her doctor has insisted that she does not run again, but stubborn as ever, Rachel is thinking about returning to Kielder to ru the whole thing properly.

She said: "I've been advised I shouldn't do anymore running, but I would quite like to run it. I'm not going to rule it out entirely."

For more information on how to donate, log on to www.runningsponsorme.org/rae.