Local man pushes through pain to finish Edinburgh Marathon

^{AFTER months of preparation, Nathan Charles from Frome, laced up his trainers and completed the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Care.}

^{Running the marathon has always been a lifetime goal for Nathan. He said, “I’ve always admired people who dedicate themselves to the training to achieve the distance, but that alone wasn’t enough though. I’ve wanted to do it but never had the drive.} 

^{“I’ve lost family and friends to cancer and the support that the charity offers is amazing. All of their hard work needs to be recognised.} 

^{“Cancer is one of the hardest things that anyone can face and seeing people I know and love go through it is a lot harder than any distance running.”}

^{The race was Nathan’s first full marathon. He explained “I have done a few 10ks and half marathons before but I really wanted to take the leap to a full marathon.}

^{“I booked my place almost a year before and it seemed like a long wait, but the weeks leading up to it flew by.”}

^{Unfortunately, the marathon didn’t go as well as planned. “It was going very well, I was on for a sub 4hr30m marathon which was a lot better than planned. But on mile 17 I had to stop suddenly due to a runner in front stopping and unfortunately I injured my knee. I could barely walk let alone run, but I  made the choice to continue and get the last 9 miles done.} 

^{“Head down, I limped along the last 9 miles which took 4 hours! Finish time was 6:18. Not a great time but I’d managed to complete it.}

^{“I found out two days after that I have a tear in my anterior cruciate ligament so I’m now on crutches, but at least  I have somewhere to hang the medal!}

^{“The support I have received has been overwhelming. Netitude have supported me from day one and kept my motivation going.} 

^{“Other local businesses that I have dealt with over the years backed me, always asking how my training was going.}

^{“I’ll be on crutches for a couple of weeks and then the doctors will see if it’s healing. Fingers crossed that I won’t be out of action for too long.”}

^{If you would like to sponsor Nathan, visit his fundraising page: www.justgiving. com/nathan-charles}