'We Still Have A Life To Live'

After a devastating diagnosis, Paula and her husband David are determined to make the most of their remaining time together. She speaks to Ruth Addicott

- Ruth Addicott

As Paula and David crossed the finish line of the Milton Keynes Half Marathon, they were greeted with an enormous cheer. They had run marathons before, but this was the first with David in a wheelchair.

Paula, 46, had watched the London Marathon on TV since she was a little girl, but never believed she could ever do it. With two young children, Chloe, 14, and Daniel, 11, she didn’t do any exercise for years, then took up running at 40.

After completing a 5k, she entered the ballot for the London Marathon. Her aim was to do it in under five hours – she did it in 4.59.58.

‘I vowed never again!’ she remembers. ‘But I’d caught the running bug, I loved it.’

Looking to meet fellow runners, in May 2012, Paula joined Northampton Road Runners and made a new group of friends, including David, a driving instructor.

‘He would always wait for the last person at the back, he was a real gentleman,’ Paula says.

David, 64, started running when he was 50 and had completed more than 30 marathons. He made everyone laugh with his crazy outfits and his enthusiasm was infectious.

‘If I was struggling up a hill he’d shout, ‘Go on!’ and make me run up it, in an encouraging way, with a smile,’ she says.

The pair laughed and trained together, and by February 2013 they’d fallen in love.