Anne and Sarah have been training for the Thames Meander marathon for the past six months with our Run Your Way team. And this is how they got on…

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Anne & Sarah with their bling!

||This was Anne’s tenth marathon and Sarah’s third, but the training this time round had transformed the experience for them ||

They did it! Anne and Sarah made it to the finish line on Saturday 2nd November, and did so with smiles on their faces.

We spoke to them the week before the marathon to find out if everything was on track. “I’m feeling good for Saturday - I’m really excited about it all,” enthused Sarah.

Anne was equally chipper. “I’m feeling great this week aft er the runs I’ve done. I’ve got the usual sticky cake planned for Friday – carb loading!”

And they’re off!

Saturday came round all too quickly, and Anne and Sarah were up at the crack of dawn to make it to the race in good time. It was a cold, wet and windy start, but they both gamely shivered on the start line ahead of the gun.

They all took off , with both women enjoying getting moving at last. “The first half felt really good,” says Sarah, aft erwards. “My ITB started playing up at about mile 3. It wasn’t awful, I was just aware of it. Anne had a wristband that gave us splits for every mile, and up to half way we were about a minute ahead.”

But with a marathon, nothing is guaranteed, and as both women said, you need to roll with the punches. Anne takes up the story: “We kept our pace till half way then something clicked and I lost all my energy. I tried to get going, but by about mile 15 we knew we weren’t going to get sub 4.”

With some strategic walking from mile 15 onwards, they battled to the finish. “We crossed the finish line and got our medals, and a lovely energy tea, which went down well,” says Anne. “We held hands as we crossed the finish line!” laughs Sarah.

On reflection

This was Anne’s tenth marathon and Sarah’s third, but while that gives them a level of confidence women embarking on their first marathon might not have, they were both quick to point out that the training this time round had transformed the experience for them. “I’ve done a marathon before,” said Sarah. “But I didn’t train properly.

The one thing I noticed about this was that on Sunday I expected to feel sore, but I didn’t. So I felt that the training plan has really helped.”

And what’s next for our intrepid pair? “I’m doing a timed seven-hour race on Newbury Common in three weeks,” said Anne, with a laugh. “It’s 4.7 mile laps, it’ll be fun!” If you say so… And it turns out that Sarah has been inspired to go just that little bit further too: “I signed up for an ultra in June!”