Susan Filsell - London Marathon

On Sunday the 17th of April, I ran the London Marathon, to raise money for The PBC Foundation – in 4 hours 48 minutes and 54 seconds.  It was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget.

My story was in “The Bear Facts” last year but, for those of you who don’t know, my name is Susan Filsell and I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Cholangiopathy (a crossover of PBC and Autoimmune Hepatitis) in 1999 when I was twenty-one years old.

Last year, I was watching the London Marathon on television and thought how wonderful it looked.  During the week after, I contacted The PBC Foundation and was given a place to run for them.  I started telling my family and friends that I was going to run the marathon so that I couldn’t back out of it!  I’m not sure if may people believed me, as I’d never been sporty and had only started going to the gym about a year earlier.  I had never done any running and avoided the treadmill!  In August, I started my training and after five weeks managed to run a 10k race, but after that I injured myself and didn’t run for about eight weeks.  I managed to start building up again and started a sixteen week training programme at the end of December.  It wasn’t long before I was injured again, but I eventually found and excellent sports therapist and got myself on track.  I had to train four times a week, with a long run every Sunday.  My Dad accompanied me on these runs, pedalling alongside me on his bike, passing me my drink and jelly babies to keep me going!  In March, I ran the Inverness Half Marathon as part of my preparation.  I ate a very healthy diet to give me lots of vitamins and energy for running.

Suddenly the big day was approaching.  I went to London on the train on the Thursday – I was really starting to feel nervous!  On the Friday, I went to the exhibition centre to register for the race.  I collected my number first, then wandered round the stalls selling sports clothes, trainers, etc.  I had a pasta lunch (essential carb loading!).  It was then announced that Paula Radcliffe was there to sign autographs, so I queued up and she signed my race number “To Susan, Good Luck!  Paula Radcliffe”!  That was a real boost and I sent text messages to all my friends to let them know!

My sponsorship money raised is now approaching £1600, with more to come in and gift aid to be added to the total.  This really makes all the training and the marathon itself worthwhile.  As a bonus, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been in my life.  I plan to check my liver function tests very soon to see what effect all this training and nutrition have had – I’m hoping there will be an improvement!  I’m going to keep on running too.I made my way out to my uncle’s house in Hertford and my parents flew down to be there for the race.  My uncle was actually running the marathon too to raise money for The Addison’s Disease Self Help Group.  Saturday was spent eating pasta and feeling nervous!  I managed to sleep well that night, amazingly, but had to get up at 5.00am to go in to London.  I had my pre race porridge and we made our way there.  At the start it was really busy and the queues for the toilets were terrible.  It was time to start!  It took over ten minutes to cross the start line, but you wore a ‘Champion Chip’ on your shoe which registered when you crossed the line so that you had an exact time for the race.  It was a bright sunny day and, as the time passed, it became hotter and hotter.  The first half of the marathon was very comfortable, parts of the second half were more of a struggle, but I managed to keep running the whole way!  There was a great atmosphere with bands, music and great crowds!  I had my name printed onto my running vest, so people shouted out “Come on Susan!”, which was great.  My parents managed to see me four times – I saw them twice and it was amazing to see them cheering me on!  The last two miles I felt a bit better again and managed a sprint finish up The Mall.  My eyes welled up with tears when I was given my medal.  It took about forty minutes then for me to meet up with my parents because it was so crowded.  I couldn’t believe I had managed to do it!  From non-runner to marathon runner in a relatively short time!

We flew to Edinburgh that night and were soon back home in Glenrothes.  The next day my legs were a bit sore, but not as sore as my sunburn!


Thank you to my family and friends for all the support they’ve given me over the past months with my preparation for the marathon – especially to my Dad for coming with me on my long runs and Mum for making my food and drinks when I got in!

Susan Filsell, Fife