Last Thursday was my one year anniversary of my bone marrow transplant, and I've been planning a special celebration of my own for about six months now, when I got it into my head that I should run a 10kto mark the occasion.
This morning was the
British 10K London Run and even though I've been running around the river for the past 3-4 months to train for this, I had only managed 10km in my last three runs so I was feeling pretty nervous and hoping only to run the whole thing (no walking!) and to maybe finish in under an hour.
I had a fantastic run, and though it was a definite slog at times, the memory of three friends who died last year despite their transplants really kept me going (I wrote David, Vera, and Rob's names on my hand to motivate me. Vera and Rob you should all remember as marrowforums members!). I couldn’t believe it when I saw the clock at the finish line – 54:22!! I know a lot of the other runners made a point to pat me on the back and say "well done" when they saw I was post-transplant, which really helped, too.
You can see more photos (including the names on my hand)
in this gallery and if you'd like to donate,
my sponsorship page will be open for a while longer.
Thank you again to the many people on here who have encouraged and supported me over the past 18 months, and I hope my race today has inspired others. You really CAN return to health after a transplant.