Lucy
I’m Lucy, and I’m a runner. My instinct is always to say “slow” or “very slow” runner, but I’m a runner. I started my running journey in 2018 with a secretive “couch to 5k” which culminated in my first surprise parkrun at Southend-on-Sea. Since then I’ve run 112 parkruns, completing the first 100 of them at 100 different locations. I’m a member of a running club, the Saint Edmund Pacers, and sometimes attend their Wednesday night track sessions where I’m the slowest person there, but still working hard.
In 2023 I entered the public ballot for the London Marathon, and won a place. I’m not running for a charity, I’m running for me.
Coach Stephen
I’m Lucy’s husband, Stephen. I’ve been a runner since 2008, completing three half-marathons between 2008 and 2010, vowing never to do another because of the knee pain I experienced, after which I only really dabbled until I discovered parkrun in 2014. I later became an accidental convert to parkrun tourism as I tried to avoid winter mud and also to find variety in my weekend running.
I eventually succumbed to the temptation of longer distances again, and better strength and fitness means the knee pain is no longer so much of an issue. My own first marathon (of now several) was also the London Marathon, in 2018, and I wrote about my own journey to that remarkable day.
I claim no special skills or knowledge, other than my own experience and observations both as a runner and as someone watching Lucy’s running journey so far, but I’m trying to support her as she finds her own path to what will be a special day in April 2024.