A Marathon Journey – Tayla Harding

I’ve always been up for a challenge so when the idea of the London Marathon crossed my path, it was clearly a yes from me! Little did I realise quite how many hard yards goes into running a marathon, but I am delighted to have come out the other end with a medal to show!

The London Marathon is a stalwart in the fundraising calendar and the main event for thousands of small charities every year. When, along with pretty much everything else, the marathon was cancelled in 2020, millions of pounds of donations to charity were also lost.

I have always dabbled at active challenges and done a bit of fund raising here and there but nothing like this. However, when my mum suggested that the two of us run the London Marathon together for the Countryside Alliance Foundation’s initiative, Fishing for Schools, I could not say no. 

The Countryside Alliance Foundation is a fantastic charity which aims to introduce people to the delights of rural Britain, adults and children alike, hoping to inspire them to become passionate about the countryside, and helping to protect the natural environment whilst making the most of the outstanding remedial and educational benefits of being involved in the countryside.

Delivered by the foundation, Fishing for Schools is one of the few projects which goes into schools to develop disadvantaged children’s confidence, education, and skills. Fishing For Schools’ aim is to promote understanding and acceptance of the rural way of life in a managed landscape, and to protect them from bias, misinformation and over regulation.

Training for the marathon was long, arduous, painful, and sometime soul destroying as the runs every Sunday become longer and longer. It was also a fantastic way to get out in the fresh air and enjoy the countryside, spend time with my mum doing something we had never done before and to help one another overcome challenges. Before starting at Howkins & Harrison as a Graduate Surveyor, I had been away at university studying first for my undergraduate and then a masters degree. Everyone changes so much in the years between the end of school and completing a masters and this gave my Mum and I a new way to connect.

The day of the marathon was incredible. The weather was perfect, the streets were teeming with people and to be in a crowd for the first time in so long was quite overwhelming. We ran well and although there were some pretty tricky moments along the route, the steel bands, the shouts and whistles, the offers of Vaseline and jelly babies kept our spirits high and our legs moving. We completed the marathon in about 4 hours which I am really pleased with. This challenge, as I have come to discover, is as much mental as it is physical. If you ever get the chance, I’d recommend grabbing it with both hands. Even just for the sheer enjoyment of that first beer once all the training is over and the race is done!

Tayla Harding and her partner Jack have challenged themselves to run 1250 miles in one year starting on the 31^st December 2022 and finishing 31^st December 2023, which is an average of 25 miles per week, for 52 weeks! Best of luck!