Siobhan O’Keeffe, a recruitment consultant at Teddington-based Job Box Recruitment, managed to complete the course in six hours and 14 seconds after breaking down eight miles in.

“At mile 8 the pain was unbearable,” O’Keeffe told Recruiter. “So I got it bandaged, carried on and after mile 13 I had to walk/run [to get to the finish line].

“I didn’t go to A&E straight away because I didn’t know. I was in pain, but I thought it was a sprain. I celebrated with family and friends, and then I woke up at 2am in agony.”

According to O’Keeffe, the determination you need to succeed in recruitment helped keep her going but this was not her only inspiration.

“I lost my granddad two or three weeks ago and he said I would do it in five hours.

“Even though I didn’t do it in five hours I had it in my head to just finish. All my friends and family were there. I was raising money for children with cancer. Obviously, what they go through is a lot. Giving up was not going to happen. I trained for four months – I wasn’t going to walk away.

“The last mile I ran and was probably the time when I felt the least pain. I felt like I’d run the whole thing and I was just buzzing.”

O’Keeffe revealed she is currently in a cast and will find out tomorrow if she requires an operation. While she beat her target of £5k, you can still donate at her Just Giving page here.

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