'I broke my ankle mid-marathon but still finished'

A mum who fractured her ankle in two places just seven miles into the London Marathon has said she is not sure whether she was "brave or stupid" for carrying on and getting across the finish line.

Micky Marsden, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, who was forced to use a wheelchair for five years after being diagnosed with sepsis in 2014, signed up for the gruelling race to raise money for Positive Action in the Community (PAC) which supports survivors of domestic abuse.

Micky, who is a domestic abuse survivor, said everything was going well until she fell on a water bottle and "heard a crack and face planted".

The 36-year-old said her friend running with her insisted it was not broken but refused to leave her side and was "my rock" to the finishing line.

Micky said the first six miles had been "amazing" until she fell on her way to a water station.

"I was on such a high," she said. "Next thing I know I hear a crack and I roly-poly onto the floor."

"I knew it was broken as I heard the crack," Micky said.

"I was devastated. I didn't want to let the charity down as I am the first ever runner to represent the PAC charity in the London Marathon."

However, her friend Lucy Reynolds, who she met three months ago on a WhatsApp group for slow runners, had other ideas.

Lucy, 31, from Ipswich, said: "I told her 'up you get. There's no chance you've broken it as you can stand on it and we've made a promise to finish it together'.

"I genuinely didn't think she had," Lucy added.

Two miles on, Micky got strapped up at a medical tent and managed to continue, but it was only once she saw Tower Bridge at mile 13 that she realised she was going to finish the race despite the pain.

And in spite of the broken ankle, the mum of one finished the marathon with a time of seven hours, 21 minutes and eight seconds.

She said "power hugs" from her husband and daughter as well as Lucy staying by her side, alongside thinking about the work of PAC for survivors of domestic abuse, carried her through.

"I kept saying to Lucy to go on as it was her marathon too, but she refused to leave me and said we had promised to run it together," she said.

"The crowd was incredible too," she added.

She said crossing the finishing line was so emotional because there were times "when I didn't think I'd get there".

Lucy said: "I was never leaving Micky. We had a pact to finish it together."

After the race, Micky discovered she had two fractures in her ankle and is now using crutches.

Micky has raised more than £6,000 for PAC while Lucy who was running on behalf of Bowel Cancer UK in memory of her mother who died in 2022, has so far raised more than £5,000.

The pair said they would be "friends for life" after the emotional race and they were already talking about their next marathon, despite Micky's mishap.

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