Sophie Raworth

3 weeks ago | runnersworld.com | Sophie Raworth

I collapsed during my first London Marathon. It was at mile 24. I just blacked out and fell to the ground. I’d known something wasn’t right for a while because my heart was racing and I was struggling to run in a straight line. I thought that I was hitting ‘The Wall’, the much feared moment in a marathon when you’re not far from the end but your body is screaming at you that it has had enough. Most people walk a bit and then push on. My body had other ideas.

1 month ago | runnersworld.com | Sophie Raworth

I have been to my first parkrun funeral. It was a surprisingly uplifting farewell. I arrived at the church on Kew Green in south west London on a beautifully crisp and sunny autumnal day. The hearse was just drawing up, alongside a queue of people filing in. In front of me was a man wearing trainers and a ‘parkrun 100’ jacket. I knew I was in the right place. Inside it was packed. A huge photograph of a beaming Serge Lourie smiling at us all as we went in.

2 months ago | runnersworld.com | Sophie Raworth

On a Sunday morning dog walk along the River Thames, I stumble across a strange race called the Putney Loop. A ‘Backyard Ultra’ is what it turns out to be. On the hour, every hour, the runners all set off at the same time on a 4.167-mile loop. And they keep going until there’s only one left. By the time I arrive, at 8am, the race has been going for 20 hours and only three of the original 46 runners are still going. Ryan, Simon and Vicks, ‘the Happy Runner’, have so far completed 20 loops – 83 miles.

Dec 8, 2024 | runnersworld.com | Sophie Raworth

Sophie RaworthThe recovery from my broken ankle starts with my toes. My physio, Sue Donnelly, tells me to sit on the floor and orders me to lift my little toe up all on its own. I can’t. It lies there like a tiny, paralysed limb. Weird to see. I stare at it, willing it to move. Nothing happens. We try my big toe next, part of my body I have never studied this hard before. The more I look at it, the more I think of a tortoise head poking out of its shell.

Oct 27, 2024 | runnersworld.com | Sophie Raworth

Whisper this quietly. It’s not something I ever thought I’d write in a running magazine – but I rather enjoyed my enforced rest from running this year. I didn’t lace up my trainers for months after the London Marathon. I had to pull out just six miles from the finish with what was later diagnosed as a stress fracture in my ankle. I have been injured before. But this time was different. ‘No exercise,’ said the foot and ankle consultant. ‘Nothing at all.’This concept was quite mind-bending to start with.