'I broke my leg during marathon - and carried on'

Wayne Goodhead was about eight miles into the London Marathon when he broke his leg.

Believe it or not, he had no idea his injury was that serious, and thinking that he had pulled a muscle, he carried on. In his own words, training had gone well and he was in the best shape of his life.

A runner for many years, it was a dream for the 59 year-old from Wolverhampton to run the 26.2 mile course, and it wasn't going to defeat him that easily.

"All of a sudden, just as the road bends to the left... a massive sudden pain just shoots straight up from my ankle, straight up my leg, and I thought: 'Oh, Christ'... but I've never quit for anything... pain's temporary, memories last forever," he said.

It was an important race for Goodhead - running it in aid of vet charity PDSA, because of his love for his five pet pugs.

"I just gritted it and just kept on running all the way to the end," he told the BBC.

"I'm not going to say I wasn't in excruciating pain, because I was."

As well as being determined to finish, he said the crowd carried him through the remaining 18 miles.

"Because I was running in a PDSA shirt that they'd given me, my name was across the top, and I think if I'd heard my name called a thousand times, I'd say that was probably the minimum," he said.

"And it was just that - it was them calling.

"It was just driving me on, just driving me on to that finish line. It was an absolutely fantastic atmosphere."

Crossing the finish line, Goodhead was struggling to walk.

He met his wife and one of their dogs and recounted the story, before "hobbling back to the train and back home".

"[I] Took my sock off and it was just like a balloon around my ankle area.

"I said: 'I think I've torn a ligament or something like that, it'll heal'," he added.

However, the next day, it got "even bigger" and he went to the hospital, where he was told he had broken his fibula.

"I've never had any injury at all running, or anything like that... this is the first time it's ever happened - I was in the best shape of my life."

Goodhead remains in a temporary cast because of the swelling, and will return to hospital next month to find out if he needs surgery.

However - his running career is far from over.

"This isn't going to stop me," he said.

"I've put in for running the London Marathon again next year.

"You can't explain it unless you've actually been there and done it, it doesn't do it justice telling people what it's like, you've got to experience it."

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