Report by Cara Kent
Thousands of people pounded the streets of London on Sunday for 26.2 miles, but some of us weren’t lucky enough to be able to join them. Instead, two Thanet Roadrunners—myself and Cathy Beddoes—ran our own version of the London Marathon virtually.
But what led me to this point? When I was still at school, I told my dad that I wanted to run a marathon, but at the time he suggested I wait until I was older to ensure my bones were fully developed (to this day I don’t know whether this is the correct advice). I’ve always loved sport but never excelled at it, although I did play volleyball for many years.
In 2023, I decided to attempt Couch to 5K for a third time. I didn’t know that there was an opportunity to complete it with a club, so I did it alone. I found it difficult but was motivated by the fact my dad was being treated for bladder cancer; how hard could it be to put one foot in front of the other compared to what he was facing?
Once I had finished Couch to 5K, I decided that this time I wanted to continue running, so I became a regular parkrunner and tried to keep running 5km on a Monday and Wednesday too. I regularly bumped into a group of speedy runners on a Monday night and realised that some of the faces were familiar from parkrun. When Anna H suggested I try Thanet Roadrunners on a Monday night, I thought I’d give it a try (albeit in a slower group!), especially as it was beginning to get darker in the evenings and, for a number of reasons, I do not go out in the dark on my own.
This encouraged me to begin increasing my distance. I completed two half marathons in 2025 and also plucked up the courage to try hills. Following problems with my knees and advice from the specialist that I shouldn’t be running, I decided a marathon was “now or never.” Having failed to get a place at London, completing it virtually was my best option.
I registered and mentioned it to a few people who also showed interest, but unfortunately, they either didn’t register due to family commitments or injury, or did register but had to pull out due to illness. Undeterred, on a miserable dark day in November, I printed off the recommended “marathon beginners” training plan and set off. By the end of March, I had managed to reach 21 miles using the “jeffing” method, but thought my only hope of completing would be to walk the remainder, so I decided a 6-hour target was realistic.
During these weeks of training, Cathy had been ill, so despite registering for the virtual marathon, she had decided not to run. Like me, Cathy had completed the Couch to 5K in 2023, but she had run with TRAC. However, as the days got lighter and the weather improved, Cathy felt well enough to return to running and decided to see how far she could go.
By two weeks before the marathon, Cathy had managed 20 miles and was walking long distances regularly, so she contacted me to say she’d like to join me after all and asked for my route. She too wanted to do a combination of running and walking, so after looking at the route—which she was happy with due to its flatness and access to toilets—and agreeing a pace, we decided to run together.
The virtual London marathon has to be completed on the same day as the London event and is tracked through the marathon app. Following their recommendation, as the app sometimes loses signal, I also set Strava and my watch to track my journey. We met at 9:30am at the 19th Hole pub in Kingsgate and, following a quick hug from Anna Harrison who happened to be passing, we set off joined by Jacquie B heading for St Peters, picking up Andy W on the way.
We went through St Peters, past St George’s School, down Northdown Road to Dame Janet Primary, and up to St Laurence church. With the hilly part now complete, we headed downhill to Chilton, across Chalk Hill into Cliffsend, and onto Pegwell Nature Reserve. As Jacquie was still recovering from a nasty fall during London Landmarks, and there was an offer of a lift from one of my daughters at this point, Jacquie decided she’d return home.
The sun was shining, the weather was perfect and, after a quick toilet stop, we kept going. Andy had refused the lift home but reached a point where he realised if he turned round and ran home, he would complete his first half marathon distance for some time, so Cathy and I continued alone.
A pattern of 1 mile running and 2 minutes walking was working for us as we headed out of Pegwell Nature Reserve towards Sandwich. With Cathy’s motivation I kept going, and as we approached Discovery Park, we realised we could see Mary P in the distance, who’d caught the train from Ramsgate to Sandwich to join us. Mary continued for the rest of the distance, joined by my parkrun pal Sian, as we ran round Sandwich returning to Pegwell.
At this point, my daughter had completed taxi duties and, with my husband, was ready to replenish drinks and snacks for us before we entered Pegwell Nature Reserve for a loop round the parkrun route and headed back towards Sandwich. As we approached Sandwich for a second time, I began to feel lightheaded despite the diluted gel drinks, electrolyte drinks, and snacks. Once again my daughter appeared with supplies and bottles of water, so after a very short break, we headed back into Sandwich.
Following another quick toilet stop (probably more psychological this time due to the quantity of water I had drunk a few minutes beforehand), we repeated our Sandwich circuit and began the return to Pegwell. By this time Sian had left us, but we were joined by James D for the final stretch and were making good time.
Despite the fact we hoped to stay together, I struggled a bit for the last two miles and began to extend my walking periods, so I suggested Cathy go ahead as her hips were beginning to seize changing between the running and walking sections. I continued to walk where necessary as I had now run a far longer distance than I had expected to. James and Mary stayed with me.
As expected, the return to Pegwell didn’t quite achieve the full distance, so we both looped round and were met at our own finish line by our families. Anna hoped to encourage us during those last miles too, but her tracking had gone slightly awry. There was no way I was running back to Broadstairs uphill, so her positioning on Northdown Road with her bells and whistles meant that we’d already finished before she realised, but the thought was there!
Fortunately, the app worked for me and I could submit my results (which exactly matched my Strava tracking, though Garmin tells me I am 800 metres short). Cathy’s phone ran out of charge, but she was able to submit her results using the tracking on her watch. She completed her marathon in 5 hours 9 minutes and I completed mine just 5 minutes later, which we were both thrilled with.
Yes, our virtual run missed some of the atmosphere and we now have the long wait for our medal and t-shirt to arrive through the post, but it also has so many advantages and I’m so glad I did it. Thank you so much to those who ran with us as well as those who sent encouraging messages before our run. I had completed all my training on my own, so your support helped me achieve far beyond my expectations.
And what next? Despite only a couple of small blisters and the surprising fact I could walk to work on Monday morning, I think my marathon days are over (although never say never). However, Cathy appears to have caught the bug, so you may see her running more in the future. Maybe I’ll just buy some new trainers…
