Marathon man heads for finish

Sunday will be a big day for Terry Greene when he takes part in the Yorkshire Marathon in York, It will mark his 100th marathon, and also his last.

“I ran my first marathon in 2000,” explains the 63-year-old from Norton.

“I didn’t set out to run any more than one. It was in the height of summer. It was boiling hot; I’m surprised after that that I ever wanted to run another.”

But the following year, while visiting his brother in Hamburg, Terry once again donned his running shoes, but even then he wasn’t ruely bitten by the bug.

“I’ve been a keen runner since I was about 35. And I think every runner wonders if they have a marathon in them and I was no different.”

Without really noticing it, Terry quite quickly built up his marathons.

“At first it was one a year, then two, then four and then six. Last year was a bumper year when I did 20. That was tough and not recommended. I didn’t really give myself time to recover in between.”

Terry’s marathons have also taken him across the globe, as far as Chicago and Vancouver and all over Europe, always accompanied by his wife Kathy

“It has been hard on my wife,” says the father-of-two.

“Getting ready for a marathon takes up a lot of time and all our holidays seem to be planned around a marathon. She always comes with me; she’s my cheerleader. We do try to see some of the places we visit once the marathon is over.”

To mark his 100th, and last marathon, Terry has decided to run for charity for the first time.

“All the others I have done really just for myself, to see if I could. But as it is my 100th I thought it would be fitting to run for a charity,”

And there was only one charity Terry had in mind.

When he was a teenager he was treated for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma at the Christie Hospital in Manchester where he was living at the time.

“When I was 17 I developed a massive lump on the side of my neck and I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is essentially a cancer of the lymph glands,” explains the psychiatric nurse.

“I don’t think I really realised how much danger I was in until I was talking to someone on the ward who told me not to worry as he’d seen people walk out of the hospital okay

“It made me realise that some people didn’t.

“After a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy I was given the all-clear and I’ve not really thought much about this period of my life until now.

“I’m grateful to the hospital for the care they showed me and without them I would not be here to do this challenge. Things have come a long way in cancer care and I just felt it was right to raise money for the hospital which saved me.”

He has already raised more than £700 and hopes the total will grow by the weekend.

The long-standing member of Pickering Running Club had planned to make Edinburgh his last marathon. But when it was announced in the spring that there was a Yorkshire marathon, he set about juggling his diary to make sure he was able to take part in the marathon which takes runners through the streets of York.

The Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon is part of the Jane Tomlinson Run for All races, run in memory of the late Yorkshire woman who died from breast cancer

“I used to live in York and we live in Norton now and so I really wanted York to be my last marathon.”

Sunday may be his last marathon, but he doesn’t intend to give up running altogether.

“I will probably run more 10ks and I quite fancy taking up walking, particularly long distance walking.”

As for Sunday, Terry is excited as well as apprehensive.

“I still get nervous before a race because it is tough to run such a long way,” says Terry, who will be cheered on by members of his running club, and of course, loyal Kathy, as well as other members of his family.

“This will be my last. Any way if I did another I will have to do another 99!”

Any one who wants to sponsor Terry can donate at his online giving site: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TerryGreene

Twitter:@ypcscott

First run has global appeal

The Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon is a brand new event for 2013 – and is a first for Yorkshire.

This much-anticipated run is set to be flatter and faster than London, Paris, Chicago and Berlin.

And before a step has even been taken, it’s already proved a hit with participants; in an unprecedented turn 
of events, all 6,000 plus places were snapped 
up in just three days when entries opened back in January.

Athletes – professional and amateur – have 
come from not only 
across the UK but from France, Spain, Ireland, the USA, Africa and the Caribbean.

The marathon is being staged by Marathon Yorkshire Ltd, a sister company to Jane Tomlinson’s Run For All.

For more information visit www.runforall.com.