Caitlin Andrew, from Clydebank, will be more than quadrupling the distance she has run before in an ambitious challenge to help families deal with the loss of a baby.
The 25-year-old signed up for the event last year after seeing the support her friend received from SIMBA, a national charity which provides memory boxes for those who have experienced child loss.
The boxes are used to help grieving families honour the memory of their little one with a way of storing items to remember them by.
Caitlin said: “It just came about days after last year’s marathon that me and two of my friends wanted to sign up for the London Marathon.
“The cause is close to our hearts, one of my friends has had the experience of using the charity.
“It was a no-brainer, we all originally got together and said we were going to this for SIMBA.
“When you sign up you don’t always get a spot but we all signed up -in the same place and time- I was the only one that got selected.
“I was like ‘God, I’m going to need to do this now.’
“I have never run any longer than 5km until I started training for this.”
Caitlin will be running the London Marathon in April 2025. (Image: Supplied) Having had previous experience in boxing and football, Caitlin knew this challenge would not be easy.
She began slowly increasing how long she ran until she began to enjoy herself.
She added: “I’m addicted to running now, I have drastically changed.
“On Christmas Day I ran 10km in the morning and on New Year’s Day I wanted to go my furthest distance and push myself and I did 16km.
“I’m obviously running for my friend, but not just her, I’m running for every family that has had to go through the grieving stage, if they can go through that then 42km is nothing, that’s absolutely nothing.
“I want to get £2000, that would be amazing. That is one of my biggest goals.
“We are looking for as much as we can get because it’s not a charity that’s spoken about a lot and I feel like it should be because of how much they actually do.”
Caitlin will be travelling down south to take part in the marathon on Sunday, April 2025.
She is raising funds via her giving page and through a fundraiser in March.
She is also looking for business sponsorships to help her achieve her £2000 goal.
