Huntly Marie Curie fundraiser overjoyed after London Marathon success
A woman inspired to run the London Marathon for a cause close to her heart said the experience ranked as one of her “top five most amazing days”.
Debbie Morrison, from Huntly, raised more than £9000 for Marie Curie by taking on her first ever marathon.
Debbie, who works at Largue Pharmacy, finished the race in six hours and two minutes.
The long-time fundraiser said she had finished with “hardly any injuries - so that was good.”
"It was quite emotional really,” Debbie added.
"The minute you kind of cross that finish line it was almost like: ‘Oh my goodness I've actually done it.’
"And the tears did start, but they were happy tears.
"Absolutely happy tears that I had completed it and had a great big, shiny, heavy medal to go with it.
"It was a strange kind of feeling, but it was definitely in my top five most amazing days.
"It was just brilliant.”
Debbie took up several years ago and has competed in many shorter events, but decided to take on the London Marathon to try and top her previous efforts.
And, after a “quite tricky” interview process, Marie Curie gave her the chance to run the event while raising money for the charity close to her heart.
Five members of the Huntly Marie Curie committee came down to support her effort, along with her mother, father, husband, two kids and her London-based auntie as well.
Marie Curie provides palliative care to those with terminal illness, and support for their families.
Debbie said it felt “just incredible” to have raised more than £9000 for a “crucial” cause.
"My uncle Ally actually received nursing care in his last few weeks of life,” she added.
"Although I never witnessed it first-hand, my mum did.
“And she decided to give back and helped form the Huntly Marie Curie fundraising group.
"A few years later, I decided: ‘You know what? I quite fancy getting involved too.’
“It's the best palliative care that anyone can receive.
“And anyone that's going through a terminal illness does deserve that.
“That’s the main reason I became a Marie Curie fundraiser.”
She began training for the event in January this year and, in March, completed a half-marathon in Inverness.
Building up to “longer and longer distances every week”, her furthest distance ahead of the race was 18 miles.
During the race, Debbie said she hit the infamous “wall” during the 22nd mile and had to walk for a time, but eventually recovered and managed to run across the line.
She said the event had an “incredible” atmosphere, which helped her to dig deep during the tail-end of her run.
"It was actually my first time in London, which itself was quite a scary thought, just being a country girl going into this massive city,” she said.
"But the marathon itself was just a constant party from beginning to end.
"There was never a break from hearing the crowd screaming, which was brilliant, because it spurred you on.”
The fundraiser also thanked everybody who donated to her JustGiving page and the 11 businesses that sponsored her effort and made a “massive difference” to the final total.
