Local Mighty Green Toby Garrick has just run 8 Marathons in 8 Days all in aid of Prostate Cancer. Following a diagnosis of a close friend of his, Toby was shocked at just how many people had been affected by Prostate Cancer. 1 in 8 men globally are diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and now this form of Cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. This spurred on a challenge – 8 Marathons in 8 Days in an attempt to raise money and awareness for the charity Prostate CancerUK.
Toby said, one of the biggest challenges was trying to find flat routes in our very hilly Devonian countryside! With the support of his mum, SRC’s social secretary Naomi and dad Mike they ventured to the Granite Way in Dartmoor, Tiverton Canal, went from Exmouth to Tipton (and back) and ended up running along the estuary from Exmouth to Teignmouth twice, and doing the return leg twice. The very last (and quickest of all the Marathons!) was in Bath in a celebratory final marathon with family and friends. The Mighty Green soon got into a routine, wake up, eat as much as he could fit in, drink many pints of salty electrolyte water, do some stretching and then head off for a marathon! Once the days running was over, he would hobble to the car and recovery would be the priority straight away. He spent the rest of the day forcing himself to eat as much as he could to refuel and prepare for the next day.
Mighty Greens Naomi and Toby Garrick
Toby still cannot believe that despite running 8 Marathons in a row (210Miles/338KM) he is injury free. His body aches and is knackered – and the discomfort throughout the week was not fun in the slightest, but somehow his body was able to adapt and push him on just one step at a time. The Mighty marathoner was amazed at how our bodies are and how much they can put up with and found the mental side more challenging. Trying to motivate himself to run hour after hour, day after day is hard, very hard; especially when he’d already ran that same route 3 times before! Toby said having support from family, friends and even strangers through donations and messages helped to keep motivation high and even in low moments, it was the generosity of others that made the pain and struggle worth it. At the time of writing Toby has raised just over £3000 which he said was completely unexpected as he said the most important thing was raising awareness.
“1 in 8 men get Prostate Cancer. That is not a rare diagnosis. What is even more harrowing is how many of these men have been diagnosed due to complete chance. Sadly, these chance diagnoses often result in the diagnosis arriving too late and the cancer reaching a level that is no longer treatable. With the recent news of Sir Chris Hoy being diagnosed with terminal Prostate Cancer, this awareness couldn’t be more appropriate. This challenge was an attempt to get these conversations going – if you are/or know of any male over 40 who hasn’t taken those first steps to get checked, please try to get those conversations going. Let them know that it all just starts with a simple blood test.” If anybody would like to visit Toby’s fundraiser you can type in Toby Garrick on JustGiving to donate and check out all of the marathons in detail.
Magnificent marathoner Toby with his proud parents