Marathon a tough goal for Amanda after Covid

Fundraiser Amanda Lawrence will be setting out to complete a marathon next month, despite still suffering the effects of contracting coronavirus five months ago.

Amanda loves running and has taken part in half marathons in the past.

Now she has signed up to do the virtual London marathon on October 4, raising money for Hope House Children’s Hospice near her home in Trefonen.

But she knows she will have to run/walk the 26.2 miles because she is still not fully fit.

The 46-year-old fell ill with Covid-19 in April and, while not taken to hospital, says she was extremely ill.

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“I spent two weeks ‘locked’ in my bedroom, making sure I isolated from the rest of my family,” she said.

“It really was a case of leave the food at the door, although I fell so ill I couldn’t eat much.”

“I have no idea how I caught it. Although I work at Wrexham Maelor Hospital I don’t come into contact with patients and I could just have easily caught it in a supermarket.”

She said even now she is struggling to get back to fitness.

“My lungs aren’t what they used to be and the fatigue I feel is dreadful. When I started trying to run again I could not believe how much fitness I had lost.”

Amanda will be teaming up with her old schoolfriend Wendy Farmer to complete the 26 miles in the lanes and footpaths around Oswestry.

“Wendy is coming up from her home in Bournemouth and we will walk/run it together. Our route will take in some of the villages and we will also run past the hospice.”

While Amanda is collecting money for Hope House, Wendy is raising money for Parkinsons UK, after her father-in-law Alan died from the disease in December.