A marathon effort from our OT Frankie

“In the end it was, um, a bit easier than I thought.”

Frankie Palmer, one of our Occupational Therapists, is talking to me three days after running the London Marathon to raise money for us. Not that you’d know, as she’s showing no ill effects.

Maybe not too surprising given she’s a regular runner, biker and gym user, but even she hadn’t expected to make it to the finish line so relatively unscathed.

“The last mile or so was really, really difficult,” she said, “but I sort of coped with the rest. I think one of the differences was the crowd. They were so uplifting. I’d heard it was an experience like nothing else, and it really was.”

She’s always wanted to run the London Marathon, and to be able to raise money for us at the same time made it extra special - and added a bit more pressure.“I can’t thank everyone enough who sponsored me, it’s an amazing total. It’s kind of strange fundraising for the place that you work for and you feel more responsibility, but I know that all the money is going to be used really effectively.”

Frankie’s marathon efforts have so far raised over £1400 and you can still donate at http://bit.ly/2GUilLI.

She also has a few tips for anyone thinking of taking on a 26-miler.

“Follow a recommended training plan, and make sure you do your long runs on a weekend, that’s crucial. I also pushed myself to do an extra-long 22 mile final long run, which I think really helped. And rest during the week before: I only did one short 2 mile run in the last five days.”

All of our five London Marathon runners - Frankie, Ali Woods, Steve Basham, Dan Smith and Andy Tate - have our utter respect and gratitude for making it through and raising so much. And Frankie celebrated a personal best time of 3:51:02. Awesome!

Below: a hard-earned selfie of success