Twenty two hour bus journeys through South America give one a lot of thinking time. I spent many an hour staring out of the window thinking about Vic and missing him.
Vic was a close friend and housemate at University who sadly took his own life aged 20, after suffering silently from depression. I was absolutely devastated and it took me a long time to accept that he was gone. I still find myself occasionally with a lump in my throat and tears running down my face after being struck by a memory of him. In particular cooking Coq au Vin (a regular Sunday evening treat at Uni) and hearing MIA ‘Paper Planes’ reduces me to a blubbering mess.
Vic with his Mum Kristina |
During one particularly long bus journey I decided that I needed to stop wallowing and turn the grief into something constructive. I knew Jack, my boyfriend, had signed up for the Virgin London Marathon for the following year, so I followed suit and signed up. However, there was one crucial difference- I signed up to run for MIND, the Mental Health Charity, and run in memory of Vic.
I signed up to run for MIND in May last year but didn’t tell anyone until I had been accepted. I didn’t want to jinx it or psych myself up only to have my application declined. We returned to the UK in July and the marathon had slipped to the back of my thoughts, so I was slightly taken aback when I received a phone call from the events team at MIND to confirm that I had been awarded a place in the London Marathon 2011. I was thrilled, but also apprehensive- I have never run further than 5 miles! I am not a natural runner, and I think that Vic would find it hilarious that I was even attempting to run the marathon, but I know that he would also be very proud of me.
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