Latest / The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast / ELLIE CURRAN TELLS US WHY SHE WILL BE RUNNING THE LONDON MARATHON.

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ELLIE CURRAN TELLS US WHY SHE WILL BE RUNNING THE LONDON MARATHON. · The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Now the third of my London Marathon special interviews. I'm
0:03
Speaker 1: joined by Ellie Curh and Hello, Ellie, how are you hello?
0:05
Speaker 1: I'm good, Thank you yeah, thanks for coming along and
0:07
Speaker 1: giving up your time today. So Ellie, let me just
0:10
Speaker 1: remind our listeners that you've ticked all the boxes I
0:13
Speaker 1: was looking for. You're a local runner, it's your very
0:16
Speaker 1: first marathon in London and you're raising money for a charity.
0:20
Speaker 1: So tell us a bit about yourself. How long you've
0:21
Speaker 1: been running? You know what major you decide to run London?
0:24
Speaker 1: So where you go.
0:26
Speaker 2: I'm a mom of three. I've only been running for
0:29
Speaker 2: about six months. I was absolutely hopeless to start with.
0:33
Speaker 2: I actually look back at my straa the other day
0:35
Speaker 2: and my first ever run I logged was less than
0:37
Speaker 2: a mile and it took me about twenty minutes. I
0:41
Speaker 2: think fortune, Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on a bit from then,
0:48
Speaker 2: I hope.
0:49
Speaker 1: Well you must have done you yeah attempting. Well, I've
0:52
Speaker 1: seen you at various races around the county. You did
0:57
Speaker 1: the Canterbury ten, you did the deal hard of you
1:01
Speaker 1: did the LID twenty. We won't go into.
1:06
Speaker 3: Twenty.
1:06
Speaker 2: You never want to go to lead again. I did
1:09
Speaker 2: the focuson ten on the weekend as well.
1:10
Speaker 1: Actually that was really good. Yeah, I didn't see down
1:13
Speaker 1: there down there.
1:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was nice.
1:14
Speaker 1: Enjoyed that one. So okay. So so what made you
1:20
Speaker 1: decide to run London? Did you? When you started running,
1:23
Speaker 1: did you run with the intention of running a marathon
1:25
Speaker 1: or just because you wanted to keep fit.
1:27
Speaker 3: No.
1:28
Speaker 2: I had no intention ever in my life to run
1:30
Speaker 2: a marathon. I've always said that I hate running and
1:33
Speaker 2: I'm not very good at it. But last year my
1:37
Speaker 2: daughter became quite unwell, and I decided I wanted to
1:41
Speaker 2: run for a charity that had supported her. And everybody
1:44
Speaker 2: wants to do London because it's iconic and it's the marathon,
1:48
Speaker 2: isn't it London Marathons, I definitely seemed like the best
1:52
Speaker 2: one to do.
1:53
Speaker 1: Right, And what's the charity you've chosen?
1:56
Speaker 3: It's Young Lives versus cancer.
1:58
Speaker 1: Right, And because your daughter wasn't well.
2:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, So in January last year, she was always really
2:06
Speaker 2: the healthiest out of my three children. I think she'd
2:09
Speaker 2: only ever been to the doctors about once in her
2:11
Speaker 2: whole life. She got up in the morning and actually
2:15
Speaker 2: got a phone call from her from my bedroom, which
2:17
Speaker 2: isn't unusual because she's lazy.
2:20
Speaker 3: Mum, can you come to my room? I mean so
2:21
Speaker 3: much pain?
2:22
Speaker 2: And I went in her bedroom and she was sort
2:23
Speaker 2: of rolling around on the floor, and I thought, he's Sunday.
2:26
Speaker 2: She's got school tomorrow. Could this be some sort of
2:29
Speaker 2: ploy to try and get out of school? But as
2:31
Speaker 2: the day went on, I sort of realized she really
2:33
Speaker 2: was unwell, and.
2:36
Speaker 3: I took her to A and E.
2:38
Speaker 2: And they kept us in and sort of all felt
2:41
Speaker 2: like a bit of a waste of time. And I
2:42
Speaker 2: was thinking, oh, you know what's going on. They're going
2:45
Speaker 2: to let us home many times soon.
2:46
Speaker 1: And had the paide by the time, Yeah, I think they.
2:52
Speaker 2: They'd done a few treatments which sort of helped her,
2:57
Speaker 2: and yeah, she seemed better, and she'd been.
3:00
Speaker 3: Sent for an ultrasound.
3:02
Speaker 2: I remember in the ultrasound they called some other people
3:04
Speaker 2: in and they were all sort of talking in riddles
3:06
Speaker 2: and it didn't really make any sense to me. And
3:09
Speaker 2: we went back up to the ward and I was thinking, oh,
3:11
Speaker 2: they must let us home soon. And I haven't had
3:13
Speaker 2: any clean clothes yet, and tired of been here since yesterday.
3:17
Speaker 2: And she was asleep on the bed and the consultant
3:22
Speaker 2: came around and said, all, mum, can we have a
3:23
Speaker 2: quick chat? Bring your phone with you, and I thought
3:27
Speaker 2: maybe they're going to tell us we can go home.
3:29
Speaker 2: And when I got to the room, there was another
3:31
Speaker 2: nurse there waiting, and she said, we found a mass
3:35
Speaker 2: and it's about the size of a house brick. And
3:37
Speaker 2: she was tiny, so I don't quite know how she
3:40
Speaker 2: had hidden that away for so long. And she said,
3:44
Speaker 2: we have to tell you. We think it could be cancer.
3:47
Speaker 2: Worst cases, it's advanced and it's spread, and best cases
3:52
Speaker 2: it's benign. And I just, honestly I could not believe it.
3:55
Speaker 2: I just I thought, how could somebody that was so
3:58
Speaker 2: healthy yesterday and well yesterday have a tune with the
4:02
Speaker 2: size of a house brick. It was just unreal, really,
4:05
Speaker 2: and it was the most surreal thing. And then you're
4:08
Speaker 2: being told all we're going to refer you to the
4:10
Speaker 2: Royal Marsden and you need to go down to X
4:13
Speaker 2: ray now because we want to check there's nothing nasty
4:15
Speaker 2: on her lungs. And all I could think the whole
4:17
Speaker 2: time was she was just laying there asleep, and you know,
4:21
Speaker 2: innocent and young and twelve years old. How could they
4:26
Speaker 2: possibly be saying that she's got cancer. I just it
4:30
Speaker 2: was just, honestly such a shock. I've never experienced shock
4:33
Speaker 2: like it.
4:35
Speaker 1: It's just a terrible blow. I mean, it's the worst night,
4:38
Speaker 1: isn't it.
4:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.
4:39
Speaker 2: You just don't ever think things like that are going
4:41
Speaker 2: to happen to you. Hear about it happening to other people,
4:43
Speaker 2: but you never think, you know, that would happen to
4:46
Speaker 2: your child.
4:47
Speaker 3: You know. It was just awful.
4:49
Speaker 2: And the other thing was is they said, oh, don't
4:52
Speaker 2: tell her anything, will you. So I had to finish
4:54
Speaker 2: at that appointment and go back to the ward where
4:57
Speaker 2: she was an incomplete out of shock and just act
5:01
Speaker 2: like nothing had happened.
5:02
Speaker 1: And it was just it was awful, all right. So
5:05
Speaker 1: moving on from there, what was the next move with
5:07
Speaker 1: your daughter? A series of treatments.
5:10
Speaker 2: Obviously, Yeah, So we were referred to the Marsden and
5:14
Speaker 2: we had we were given a really terrible preliminary diagnosis
5:18
Speaker 2: which I briefly googled it, which was regrettable, but it
5:22
Speaker 2: was it had a really poor survival rate. I think
5:25
Speaker 2: the survival rate when I looked it said poor prognosis.
5:28
Speaker 2: About twenty percent of people live five years. I think
5:31
Speaker 2: it said, and I was just completely devastated. So I
5:38
Speaker 2: think the Marsden then referred us to London for a biopsy,
5:42
Speaker 2: which fortunately was quite quick. I remember the time when
5:45
Speaker 2: we were waiting for the biopsy, feeling devastated, like nothing
5:51
Speaker 2: in the world would have made me feel better. If
5:54
Speaker 2: I'd won a hundred million pounds, I wouldn't have felt better,
5:57
Speaker 2: nothing mattered anymore. I felt annoyed at how ungrateful I'd
6:01
Speaker 2: been throughout my life and how I hadn't you know,
6:05
Speaker 2: I'd taken it all for granted, that my life was
6:08
Speaker 2: good and happy, and that I could potentially lose my child,
6:11
Speaker 2: and it would have just been.
6:13
Speaker 1: Well, you can't describe it, can they. You know, I'll
6:18
Speaker 1: say it's the parents' worst nightmare. Yeah, and you know
6:21
Speaker 1: you feel so helpless and so moving on. Obviously it
6:27
Speaker 1: looks like Rihanna's.
6:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was fantastic. We've got a really good outcome
6:32
Speaker 2: in the end. It was a type of cancer that
6:35
Speaker 2: was very chemo sensitive. She had four rounds of chemo
6:41
Speaker 2: and yeah, she's doing so so well and we are
6:44
Speaker 2: so lucky and we feel so grateful with everything that's
6:48
Speaker 2: happened that she's so well that she's okay, and I'm
6:53
Speaker 2: forever thinking about those children still there at that hospital
6:56
Speaker 2: that aren't as lucky as we are.
6:58
Speaker 1: And has she coping in herself? Was she during that period?
7:03
Speaker 2: I mean it was awful. She had to take a
7:06
Speaker 2: lot of time off school. Initially, you know, friends were
7:09
Speaker 2: very attentive, but as time went on, you know kids,
7:12
Speaker 2: they're busy with their own lives, and I think she
7:14
Speaker 2: sort of felt like she was being left behind. And
7:17
Speaker 2: there was other things. That she lost her hair, which
7:19
Speaker 2: was awful for her. She had lovely long hair. She
7:23
Speaker 2: was she got quite sick. She was sick a lot
7:26
Speaker 2: with the chemo. Her friends would be on things like
7:30
Speaker 2: school trips, or she'd see the things that they were
7:32
Speaker 2: doing on social media, and she had really poor immunity
7:35
Speaker 2: from the chemo, so she wasn't able to socialize with
7:38
Speaker 2: people as much as she would have liked. And it
7:41
Speaker 2: was really difficult for her and it was heartbreaking to
7:44
Speaker 2: see her going through that. But she's had no she's
7:47
Speaker 2: had the all clear. She's doing really well.
7:52
Speaker 1: Flid, isn't it.
7:53
Speaker 2: It was amazing And that is what has led me
7:56
Speaker 2: on to doing this marathon. I wanted to do something.
8:00
Speaker 2: I wanted to give something back. I wanted to focus
8:02
Speaker 2: that wasn't cancer and worrying about relapses because of course
8:06
Speaker 2: that will always be a worry for us now.
8:08
Speaker 1: But okay, so let's know, I mean that's it's like
8:12
Speaker 1: a happy said story for Yeah, any parent that's out
8:15
Speaker 1: there listening, Yeah, wouldn't want to spot places with you,
8:18
Speaker 1: would they? But but you turned it around to try
8:21
Speaker 1: and do something positive. So you've been training for this
8:24
Speaker 1: thing called the London Marathon. So I as a training going.
8:28
Speaker 2: It was really difficult to start with. I got an
8:31
Speaker 2: over use injury. I was so keen I was going out.
8:34
Speaker 2: I said, oh I can run five k or I
8:36
Speaker 2: can run ten k. And then it ignored everybody's warnings
8:40
Speaker 2: about not increasing more than ten percent a week, and
8:42
Speaker 2: was getting out as much as I possibly could until
8:46
Speaker 2: I couldn't even walk at one point, and I went
8:49
Speaker 2: to see a physio and he said to me, this
8:50
Speaker 2: is ridiculous.
8:51
Speaker 3: You can't walk. You need to stop and you need
8:53
Speaker 3: to rest.
8:53
Speaker 2: And I remember feeling absolutely devastated because I.
8:58
Speaker 3: Felt like I was going to lose the witness that
9:00
Speaker 3: I built up.
9:02
Speaker 1: Were you awful?
9:03
Speaker 2: I think I probably had to take about a month
9:08
Speaker 2: off and go back sort of really gradually to run
9:13
Speaker 2: in I think, you know, a mile and then two miles.
9:16
Speaker 1: Would you run into a plane or just sort of
9:18
Speaker 1: going out and trying to build it up.
9:19
Speaker 2: I was just trying to get some miles on my
9:21
Speaker 2: legs really, because most of the plans I was looking
9:24
Speaker 2: at didn't start until January. But I knew as a
9:26
Speaker 2: complete novice starting in January was really risky. And had
9:31
Speaker 2: I got that injury in January instead of September October,
9:34
Speaker 2: whenever I got it, I would have been in real
9:36
Speaker 2: trouble because it would have really knocked out a lot
9:38
Speaker 2: of the training.
9:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you've turned it around, haven't you excuse me?
9:42
Speaker 1: I mean in the Canterbury teen, it's like January time
9:46
Speaker 1: and I've run that one. I know what it's like
9:49
Speaker 1: to whopping Great Hills and you did that.
9:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, that was good. I was quite pleased with
9:54
Speaker 3: that one.
9:55
Speaker 1: The deal half saying once again, yeah, yeah, it takes
10:00
Speaker 1: no prisoners that one. And there's a few choices that
10:03
Speaker 1: swears when you cross the line there with the lud
10:06
Speaker 1: we've spoken about, and you've just done a focus in tent.
10:10
Speaker 1: I mean they're all good miles in your legs. So yeah,
10:14
Speaker 1: it sounds like you're certainly on course. Now, what was
10:18
Speaker 1: the work to do? I mean, did I know you're
10:21
Speaker 1: a busy housewife, but I mean sometimes work inter fears
10:25
Speaker 1: of me training. Was that a problem fitting the training
10:27
Speaker 1: runs in?
10:28
Speaker 3: Not really, I'm quite fortunate.
10:29
Speaker 2: I do work pretty much full time, to be honest,
10:31
Speaker 2: but I'm able to.
10:35
Speaker 3: Run around the work.
10:36
Speaker 2: I only doing office jobs, so it's never an issue
10:39
Speaker 2: for me getting out to do running. In fact, it
10:41
Speaker 2: really helps me quite often when I get them from work.
10:43
Speaker 2: I'm quite restless from where I've been sat all day
10:46
Speaker 2: eating chocolate and on my computer, So it feels good
10:51
Speaker 2: to get out and do a run and sort of
10:52
Speaker 2: burn off some of that energy.
10:54
Speaker 1: That as is it? I mean, have you found there
10:56
Speaker 1: since Rihanna has been giving the all clear and that
10:59
Speaker 1: you've got this determination that you get twitter and you
11:02
Speaker 1: want to get out again.
11:03
Speaker 3: Yeah. I want to do things. I want to appreciate life.
11:05
Speaker 2: I want to make the best of it and just yeah,
11:08
Speaker 2: be active and be healthy.
11:09
Speaker 3: It's made me realize how important your health is.
11:12
Speaker 2: And if you know, the running really has benefited me
11:15
Speaker 2: physically and mentally.
11:17
Speaker 1: Oh that's great. So the charity yourself Young Lis Versus Cancer.
11:22
Speaker 1: So when you go up on the day, I mean,
11:24
Speaker 1: have they been supportive for you? Is the cheerstations on you?
11:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's quite a few young large cheer stations. I
11:30
Speaker 2: think there's one at mile seventeen, mile thirteen miles, I
11:35
Speaker 2: think twenty two. I think we just were looking at
11:39
Speaker 2: I think two. And I'm in a Facebook group with
11:42
Speaker 2: other people, and most of the other people that are
11:45
Speaker 2: running have similar stories.
11:47
Speaker 1: To me, So I imagine you're not alone.
11:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, be quite emotionalspect, I can imagine.
11:53
Speaker 1: Yeah. And what's the what's the playing for the weekend?
11:56
Speaker 1: You're going out for the day or going to make
11:58
Speaker 1: a weekend of it?
11:58
Speaker 2: I think we're going to make a week end of it.
12:00
Speaker 2: I think head up on the Saturday morning. I've got
12:03
Speaker 2: a hotel booked and then lots of carbs hopefully on Saturday.
12:09
Speaker 1: Lots of glass of that's really good for.
12:13
Speaker 3: You, lots of electrolytes.
12:17
Speaker 1: I bet the carbs and electrolytes words that you never
12:21
Speaker 1: heard them before he started running. Its fueling and jails language. Yeah, okay,
12:28
Speaker 1: so you're going up, I mean, other family coming up
12:30
Speaker 1: for the day.
12:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, my partner, Richard's coming up, my daughter, the my
12:35
Speaker 2: younger daughter's coming up, and my two older children. I
12:39
Speaker 2: won't be coming up until the following day. My step
12:42
Speaker 2: son's also coming up with us on the Saturday.
12:44
Speaker 1: So that's good, good support. I'll tell you, there's nothing
12:49
Speaker 1: like seeing your family when you're running and you're tired
12:52
Speaker 1: and you just be a little welcome hug or something, yeah,
12:56
Speaker 1: just to get your going. It's better than any gal
12:59
Speaker 1: or any electrolyte, I'll tell you. Okay, so the charity,
13:04
Speaker 1: you've set yourself a target of two thousand pounds, But
13:09
Speaker 1: I mean, what have you had to do to get there?
13:10
Speaker 1: Have you had to do any fundraising emits or has
13:12
Speaker 1: it just been a family and friends that have helped
13:15
Speaker 1: you out.
13:16
Speaker 3: It's a bit of everything, really.
13:17
Speaker 2: I did a fundraiser and loads of local charities were
13:20
Speaker 2: really generous and really grateful for that. They sort of
13:23
Speaker 2: donated raffle prizes. I did a quiz night at the
13:27
Speaker 2: dugout and that was a really good turnout and that
13:30
Speaker 2: raised I think about I think it was just over
13:33
Speaker 2: two thousand pounds.
13:34
Speaker 1: Oh well, that is a lot of money.
13:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've had a few customers at work that have
13:38
Speaker 2: done quite nice donations, and then friends and family as well.
13:42
Speaker 3: So I've been really lucky with the.
13:43
Speaker 1: So you've hit your target? Yeah, what's the targets sitting
13:47
Speaker 1: at now?
13:48
Speaker 2: I think it's three thousand and six hundred and something.
13:52
Speaker 1: Right, Oh wow? So yeah, well that must make you
13:56
Speaker 1: feel a lot bit. Yeah. You know, people are responsive
14:01
Speaker 1: to you. They're probably envious of you. You know that
14:03
Speaker 1: you can run a marathon.
14:05
Speaker 3: I don't know if I can. I hope I can.
14:08
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what you will go. You're going to
14:10
Speaker 1: do it well, just determined and drive, you know, a
14:14
Speaker 1: bit bright and next year yeah, I don't know. We'll
14:18
Speaker 1: see how you'll be doing a marathon every year. Okay,
14:21
Speaker 1: So so the whole family coming up? Are you going
14:26
Speaker 1: to you're coming home the same day or are.
14:28
Speaker 2: You going to come home the same day? I've booked
14:31
Speaker 2: one day off work. I hope that will be enough.
14:34
Speaker 1: Right? And what else is there to say? I mean,
14:39
Speaker 1: you've got to see your family. I will say this,
14:42
Speaker 1: you're doing something really positive that you know, when you
14:46
Speaker 1: had those tough times and you've turned it around thankfully.
14:49
Speaker 1: Rihanna's on the mend. But you probably felt helpless when
14:55
Speaker 1: Rihanna was was not very well. But now you're doing
14:58
Speaker 1: something to help, not just but other people. So you've
15:02
Speaker 1: got to admire yourself, you know, don't put yourself down.
15:04
Speaker 1: You're going to have a great day. And we both
15:06
Speaker 1: said this, if you're going to do a marathon, do London,
15:09
Speaker 1: don't worry about looking at the watch, about time, mile marks,
15:12
Speaker 1: ever looked around a little, listen to the music, enjoy it. Yeah,
15:17
Speaker 1: it's going to be stuck in your mind for the
15:19
Speaker 1: rest of your life. Now before we go, is there
15:21
Speaker 1: any hellos and thank you? And I mean people must
15:24
Speaker 1: have helped you, you know, behind the scenes, family and that,
15:27
Speaker 1: So let's do some name dropping.
15:29
Speaker 2: Oh so obviously there's Rihanna. I'm so proud of her.
15:33
Speaker 2: She's such a star. She's such a good kid. Doesn't
15:37
Speaker 2: ever complain about anything she's been through, still MUCKs.
15:41
Speaker 3: In at home.
15:41
Speaker 2: She kind and funny, bit lazy, but there we go.
15:46
Speaker 2: She's a teenage My son Fein he was actually going
15:49
Speaker 2: for doing his GCSEs when she was going through all
15:53
Speaker 2: of that trouble last year, so I felt that that
15:56
Speaker 2: was really stressful for him and he coaked really well
15:58
Speaker 2: and stepped up and help out whenever he could, and
16:01
Speaker 2: again didn't complain about anything that was going on. And
16:05
Speaker 2: then we've got the baby, Remy, who did complain a
16:09
Speaker 2: lot and said why does Rihanna get load.
16:11
Speaker 3: Of presents and get anything? So she felt a bit
16:15
Speaker 3: put out. And she's really really.
16:16
Speaker 2: Close with her baby, with her big sister, so I
16:19
Speaker 2: think she found it difficult. I remember when she lost
16:22
Speaker 2: her hair, Actually she really cried and said I don't
16:25
Speaker 2: like it. I don't like it, and that was quite tough.
16:28
Speaker 2: But yeah, she's done really well. And then my partner, Richard,
16:34
Speaker 2: he's been a great support and was coming up to
16:36
Speaker 2: appointments with me and driving us up there and holding
16:40
Speaker 2: the foot at home. I don't think I touched the
16:42
Speaker 2: washing machine for about two months, so that was handy
16:45
Speaker 2: kept on top of everything. And my parents were absolutely brilliant.
16:50
Speaker 2: My mum, Susie and I stepped up or I couldn't
16:52
Speaker 2: have coped without them, and all of our friends and
16:55
Speaker 2: foundily everybody. We were just so lucky with the support
16:57
Speaker 2: we had, so I'm really grateful to everyone.
17:00
Speaker 1: I mean, looking by the size of the amount you've accumulated,
17:03
Speaker 1: you know obviously a lot of family and friends have
17:06
Speaker 1: been listening to your story generous and put their hands
17:09
Speaker 1: in the pocket. Okay, so Ellie, you know we're going
17:14
Speaker 1: to close this interview now, but it's been an eye
17:17
Speaker 1: opener for me and I think people that are going
17:20
Speaker 1: to listen to this will realize that you're such an
17:23
Speaker 1: inspiring mum and you're showing other people that you know,
17:27
Speaker 1: you can get out and do something, you know, sort
17:30
Speaker 1: of out of the box. And so I've just got
17:35
Speaker 1: nothing but admiration for you. In any final words, just
17:39
Speaker 1: have you checked the weather.
17:40
Speaker 2: I've checked the weather of twenty one degrees it's sand,
17:43
Speaker 2: which I'm a bit nervous about because that really does
17:46
Speaker 2: exactly when you're running in the sun.
17:48
Speaker 3: But I just have to take on more fluids and
17:50
Speaker 3: go a bit slower.
17:51
Speaker 1: It'll be the same for the other thirty thousand people.
17:54
Speaker 2: Ye, stuff in giant costumes and stuff and pregnant women.
17:59
Speaker 3: I've seen loads of women.
18:00
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. When I ran the London Marathon, I got
18:04
Speaker 1: stopped by the BBC at Tower Bridge and what was
18:08
Speaker 1: her name, I can't remember her name, but she interviewed
18:10
Speaker 1: me for the Telly But it never made It never
18:12
Speaker 1: made the Telly in the Evening only because I wasn't
18:14
Speaker 1: dressed up as a crocodile or a rhino. Yeah yeah, Ellie,
18:19
Speaker 1: thank you so much for changing listen, telling us your story.
18:22
Speaker 1: What can I say? Just have a fantastic day. Don't
18:25
Speaker 1: worry about the watch ever. Look around, take it in
18:28
Speaker 1: because it's the day you'll never forget. Thank you, thank you,