How the girl who couldn’t run to the end of the road became an ultra runner
Let’s talk about Michelle and the Isle of Wight Challenge
Mud and Michelle!
Two things I spent a lot of time with over a recent weekend while completing the 106km Isle of Wight Challenge.
Of course, you’d expect me to spend plenty of time with Mrs Lewis - but perhaps not holding her hand while guiding us both down a steep, slippery hillside at 3am.
That, I guess, is the ‘glory’ of ultra running!
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But I’m not here to simple tell you about how muddy it was (it was REALLY muddy). What I want to talk about is what Michelle achieved this weekend and why it was so incredible.
The story starts back in 2012, when I was training for MK Marathon.
But it’s definitely not about me.
Back then, Michelle could barely run to the end of the road, but she’d grown up watching her dad run the London Marathon several times so running was hidden somewhere in her blood.
She started joining me on training runs and before too long 100 metres became a first half-marathon.
While MK sparked little more than a nice long rest for me, running became central to Michelle’s life.
Somewhere along the way, a dream was born: To run the London Marathon.
But, as we all know, getting into London through the ballot is tougher than running the Barkley Marathons backwards. So, a new plan was made to combine her love of running with that of travel.
Her first marathon was completed in Seville, and over the years Michelle the Marathon Globetrotter has finished events in places as far-flung as Barcelona, Seattle, Paris and, er, Peterborough.
She’s taken on crazy multi-lap marathons, run up hill after hill to finish at Beachy Head, and helped others reach their 26.2 mile goals.
Last year, she finally got the chance to reach her London Marathon target, while another hilly jaunt - this time in the form of the Skegvegas of runs, the Great Seaside Marathon, took her to 19 - yes, NINETEEN - marathons.
And so to the Isle of Wight, when the girl who couldn’t run to the end of the road finished her first ultra marathon.
And not some baby 50k, but a knee-busting, mind-bending 106km (65 miles) of insane elevation, swamps of mud, coastal path craziness, and those slippery descents in 3am pitch darkness.
But everything the Isle of Wight Challenge threw at her couldn’t stop Michelle reaching her dreams yet again.
Nineteen marathons, one 100km+ ultramarathon, a whole different level of guts and resilience.
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