JUST three years after taking up running, Katie Peters stepped up to the challenge of completing the London Marathon in aid of Llamau.

Katie, strategic and southern planning director at the Edenstone Group, raised almost £4,000 for Llamau, the leading homelessness charity in Wales. 

The total includes £2,000 from her employers via the Edenstone Foundation. 

Katie said: “Many charities have had a really tough few years throughout the pandemic and it’s no different for Llamau.  My work is centred around delivering new homes for those people lucky enough to be able to get on the housing ladder, but there are so many other people that are in need of help and support and running the London Marathon to raise money for Llamau was the very least I could do.

“I’m really grateful to the Edenstone Foundation for their support and would like to extend a massive thank you to everyone for the individual donations too especially in these difficult times.”

Katie, 41, from Catbrook, Monmouthshire, completed the marathon in a time of 4:39:33 – a remarkable feat considering she only took up running in 2019 and that she had to withdraw from last year’s race after being diagnosed with a femoral neck stress fracture.

“I had a strategy for the race, and I executed it as best as I could. It feels amazing to have finished – albeit it’s still sinking in. I was so focused on getting to the start line in one piece that I forgot to think about how I’d feel to finish.” Katie said.

“The support from the crowds was incredible and really spurred me on.”

As part of her recovery, Katie went swimming and to the gym, before with the help of medical and sports professionals she was given the greenlight to run again in March.

She’s now giving her body and mind the chance to rest but is looking for something to aim for next year and hasn’t ruled out running a marathon again in future.

“I have to take into account that training for a marathon is hugely time consuming. I work full time and have a husband and a five-year-old daughter at home who haven’t seen a huge amount of me over the last few months.  That said, I suspect I’ve got the bug,” Katie said.

Her advice to anyone considering running a marathon is “follow a structure training plan and definitely don’t start out too quickly, it’ll catch up with you later”.

To sponsor Katie’s marathon in effort in aid of Llamau go to https://tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/katie-peters.