Lauren doubles her distance for Tommy’s charity

A MUM who had “multiple miscarriages” decided to run the London Marathon to raise awareness and money for a charity which helps women who have been through the same ordeal.

Lauren Steel (39), of Wath, said she had no experience of running at all but added: “I feel really good afterwards.”

She said she had long wanted to take on a challenge and raise money for something worthwhile and had found the charity Tommy’s, which researches the cause of miscarriages and supports women affected by them.

Lauren said: “I’ve been looking forward to doing this for quite a while.

“We have a son called Christian.

“While we were trying for Christian, we suffered multiple miscarriages.

“Tommy’s is close to my heart and when the opportunity came up to raise money for them through the London Marathon I thought it was a really good opportunity.”

Lauren said she had got into light running or jogging last summer “to get fit”.

She added: “I took a little bit of a break from it and started in October — again, it was only a couple of miles.

“Then I saw the opportunity to run the London Marathon so I thought: ‘Why not? Let’s do it!’

“I’ve looked at so many training programmes and my aim is just to build up to the length of time that I’m running, build up the fitness and build up the distance.

“It’s really enjoyable.”

The London Marathon will take place on April 23 and Lauren is adamant that she will finish it — even though she’s come across some obstacles along the way.

She said: “It’s going well. I’ve had a couple of setbacks schedule-wise. I’m a little bit behind but I’m still on top of the running and staying focused.”

Lauren laughed: “Thirteen miles is the longest distance I’ve ever run — I only need to go that far all over again.”

You can help Lauren by visiting https://tinyurl.com/laurensmarathon and donating towards her goal.