Yet, four days after the bandages were taken off, stuck at home feeling sorry for myself, after completely underestimating the “major surgery” I’d just gone through – I mean, come on, surgeons must say things are “major” all the time right? Wrong. I found myself in front of the TV, watching the 2023 London Marathon, as if to torture myself, on what I had no chance of doing. I watched as the elite runners blasted around the streets of the capital with effortless ease, and the thousands of superstars running for amazing charities up and down the country, all hoping to simply make it around in one piece with a smile on their faces.
I couldn't have been more than 10 minutes in when I noticed a message on the sponsorship ticker at the bottom of the screen “Good luck to daddy, running for Sarcoma UK”.
Well, that was it, wasn’t it? The tears were soon falling down my face and before I knew it, I’d grabbed my phone and was filling out an online application form. Four weeks before that, the word sarcoma wasn’t even in my vocabulary. Once I’d dried my leaky eyes, I stirred down to see the message “Thanks for entering the 2024 London Marathon”.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d just done, but I knew I’d have 12 months to go from barely being able to walk, to running 26.2 miles (hello gigantic expletives!).
Needless to say, most people thought I was utterly bonkers, and that I’d probably bitten off a lot more than I could chew, but for me, this was now a reason to get up, a reason to perform all of the painful stretches and exercises my physios were asking me to do every day, a way to prove to myself that cancer wasn’t going to beat me and take away something that I occasionally enjoyed.
The first few months of recovery were tricky, I struggled hugely with balance problems, painful infections, and endless swelling of my foot and ankle. I had more scares when new lumps were spotted in my back and then my foot, and was even radioactive for the day, after a PET scan to check the rest of me for undesirable lumps.
All this and I hadn’t even tried running yet!
At the end of September, I made my way to my local 5K Your Way meet-up, not knowing whether I’d even be able to walk the 5km course. I was coaxed around by an amazing, inspiring woman, Kerry, who got me around in a sniff under 42 minutes after a bizarre combination of hobbalking (hobbling and walking). But in that moment I’d never felt happier, sure, it wasn’t comfortable at all, but I’d made it around, and so celebrated with English tea and delectable carrot cake! Fast forward a couple of months and my training was generally going ok. That was until I found yet another lump in what I now referred to as my dodgy leg. After ignoring it for a good couple of months through the fear I might lose it completely, I went to get it scanned. Thankfully cancer wasn’t back, back again, but they did discover a stress fracture in my tibia, which meant 6 weeks rest, with 10 weeks to go. This late in the day I was pretty much ready to give up the 2024 dream and revisit the whole daft idea in 2025, but there was no way that was going to happen.
I
wantedneeded to draw a line under the whole cancer thing and crossing that finish line was going to be a gigantic first step towards that.
Four weeks later I found myself in ExCel London collecting my race number, this ridiculous dream was going to happen! I took all the advice I could from my 5K Your Way Mum, Sarah, and took to the start line of the 2024 TCS London Marathon. I started out a lot slower than I wanted to, found other team Sarcoma members along the way, laughed at the endless collection of funny signs, high-fived members of the public, and tapped all the Mario Mushrooms and Power Stars I could find, just in case they actually did give me a power up.
It was utterly mind-blowing to think that there I was running the bloody marathon, 12 months ago, I’d been crying in my kitchen, and now there I was, halfway around the course having the time of my life :)
The whole weekend was a roller coaster, and as I crossed the finish line being roared on by the amazing crowds, I’ve never felt more accomplished. I was overcome with emotion, and through tears of joy (yes, more tears), I let out the mother-of-all-power-screams full of raw emotion, elation, and utter exhaustion. After some of the worst preparation for a marathon I could have ever imagined: sporadic training, bugger-all sleep, a whole host of unwanted external stresses, and with a fracture in my leg, I’d flipping done it!!
Somehow I’d ran it 58 minutes faster than I managed in 2012 with two fully formed legs and a few less laps around the sun. It was finally time to enjoy a well-earned massage, a great post-race reception, free pizza thanks to the kind people of Franco Manca, and revel in the feel good feeling that lasted for weeks.
A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored and supported my journey, it seriously means the world to me! I’m so grateful to raise a huge amount of money for Sarcoma UK (£3,840) and to raise awareness of sarcoma so that more people can get the treatment they need as soon as possible.
You know, one of the best bits of the whole thing, was being able to share Medal Monday with my amazing son the day after :)
James x.
If you missed the fundraising boat the first time round, don't worry, you can still hop on here https://www.justgiving.com/page/james-gough-1692105344545
