Jodie Smith from Sowerby Bridge last ran the London Marathon in 2017. It took her seven hours and 31 minutes. She is now five stone lighter and plans to run this year’s marathon in just over five hours to celebrate her son who contracted meningitis when he was a baby
Jodie’s son, Corey, nearly died after contracting meningococcal septicaemia meningitis in 1996. Since then, Jodie and her husband Rick have been determined to raise money for the charity Meningitis Now to help raise awareness of the disease.
Jodie says, “When I ran the London Marathon for the first time I was severely overweight and under trained. Running was so difficult being so overweight. This year I am five stone lighter. The London Marathon 2023 will be 100% more enjoyable!”
Jodie recently completed a 20 mile training run and has included strength training into her marathon plan too. She is confident about the upcoming 26 mile challenge but is always wary of the possibility of sustaining an injury;
“So far I have had no injuries. Injuries can happen at any time even on the day during the race, so I’ll be praying to the race gods that we get to the race and through it with no injuries.”
Jodie will be running the London Marathon on the 23rd April 2023 alongside Rick. They hope to raise £4,000 between them for Meningitis Now.
