Fife woman tackling three marathons for charity

Elyse McBride (23) has just completed the first – the Florida Marathon – and is now preparing to take part in the London and Edinburgh events to raise funds for our Maggie’s Centre in Kirkcaldy.

She decided to raise money for the charity in memory of her mum, Lynn McBride, who died from cancer. Lynn, who was a stylist at the Lundie Salon in Lundin Links, is fondly remembered locally.

“I lost my mum to cancer about six years ago,” Elyse explained. “That’s also how long she fought for. I thought this year I would do the marathons to raise money.”

Quantity surveyor Elyse has raised funds for Maggie’s before, but this time she hopes to raise £5000, which is her biggest target to date.

She explained that she chose to help the cancer caring centre after it supported her mum during treatment.

She told the Mail: “We had a Maggie’s nurse in during the day with her and they were great.”

In a bid to raise funds for the organisation she opted to do the three marathons but could not explain why she selected such a challenging event.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I like to exercise a lot and that has been my escape in a way. I felt like a physical challenge was the right thing to do.”

The challenge of taking on three marathons is difficult enough but an injury has made the experience tougher, interrupting her vital training schedule.

“It was harder than I expected,” she said of the Florida Marathon. “I hadn’t run in seven weeks, which made it tougher.”

Fortunately boyfriend Jake was with her every step of the way, even though he was not an eager participant at first.

“He got forced into doing the marathon with me,” Elyse explained. “But he helped me get through it.

“It went well until about eight weeks before Florida.

“Then I suffered a knee injury, which has plagued me since – it made the run interesting.

“I had just been following a plan and building up the mileage.

“Since the injury, I’ve just been trying to do a bit on the bike or crossfit to keep my fitness up.”

While Elyse will be doing the Edinburgh Marathon alone, her brother Scott will be offering support in London. If you would like to help Elyse, you can donate by visiting www.justgiving.com/fundraising/elysemcbride2.