A LECTURER will be running the London Marathon barefoot for the second time on Sunday.
Alison Pooley, 44, of Anglia Ruskin's Chelmsford Campus, has decided to complete the gruelling 26-mile run without any shoes to raise money for Help The Hospices, after overcoming the challenge at last year's event.
"I ran last year for an environmental charity. It was about treading lightly on the earth and being barefoot seemed to fit with its ambitions," said Alison, who lectures in sustainability.
"My sister Dawn died five weeks after last year's Marathon and so this year I will be raising money for Help The Hospices, which provided such a fantastic service during her illness.
"Our hospice at home nurse was called Joy. I don't know how we would have coped during my sister's last night and the following morning without her.
"I like to think my sister spent her last night with Joy. Everyone needs that support at some time.
"So that's who I'll be running barefoot for this year, alongside my daughter Lauren, who will be wearing shoes."
Alison, who grew up in Essex but now lives on a houseboat in East London, already runs regularly without any shoes.
"Running is like jumping off a six-foot high wall from which you would land on the front of your foot, so that's how running should be and shoes encourage people to over-stride," she said.
"I think if you can run barefoot why wouldn't you? Raising money to help others is a bonus."
Additional reporting by Lauren Nash, Thomas Barnes, Jordan Milne and Jenny Sawings
