A ‘crazy’ Peterhead woman is running 18 marathons in 18 days in memory of a very special toddler who died suddenly.
That’s 471 miles, which is daunting enough, but Nicola Buchan – who is today running marathon number eight – admitted she hadn’t done any training.
The 35-year-old runs her own gym in Peterhead, NB Fitness. One of her clients is Fiona Strachan, who Nicola began training when Fiona was pregnant.
When Fiona and husband Joe’s son Archie was born, she continued to take classes at the gym with Nicola, taking her young lad with her.
“I allow kids in my gym, so I used to see Archie once, sometimes twice a week,” said Nicola.
“He just became a massive part of the gym family and a part of my life, really. He was a funny little dude.”
Mum Fiona described him as “a happy, smiley little guy.”
‘I put him to bed, and when I went to get him in the morning he was lying dead in his crib’
However, in March this year, tragedy struck.
“There was nothing wrong with him, he was never unwell,” said mum Fiona.
“I put him to his bed the night before, and when I went in to get him in the morning he was lying dead in his crib.
“There’s no words to describe it.”
Aged just 18 months, Archie fell victim to SUDC – Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood, which affects one child a week in the UK, and which can happen to kids as old as 18 years.
A month before Archie’s death, Fiona found out she was pregnant, and was excited at the prospect of giving Archie a sibling.
“You think that’s your family complete, and then you get bowled off your feet,” said Fiona. “And there’s absolutely nothing you can do.”
Peterhead woman’s decision to don running shoes has raised nearly £30,000
Archie’s death also hit Nicola hard.
“When I found out he’d passed away I couldn’t contemplate not getting to see him again,” said Nicola.
“To help Fiona and Joe, and also to give me something to help me move past Archie’s death, I wanted to do something.
“And the number 18 kept sticking out, because he was 18 months.
“I thought: what do I not do anymore? Running. What’s going to be hard? What will people donate to? So it became 18 marathons in 18 days.”
Nicola has already raised more than £27,000 for SUDC UK, a quite incredible amount given her original target was an already ambitious £10,000.
SUDC UK is a charity which works to raise awareness, support families, and encourage and fund research into SUDC.
Nicola’s route goes from Peterhead out to Rora, round through Mintlaw and back again. Archie’s dad Joe will join her for the final marathon on September 5.
‘What I’m going through now is nothing compared to Archie’s mum and dad’
By the end of marathon number 18, Nicola will have run almost 500 miles. Which makes her complete lack of training somewhat eyebrow-raising.
But as she explained, there’s a symbolic reason behind her lack of preparation.
“I didn’t train for it. I’m a strength athlete, I’ve got a competition in November for Britain’s Strongest Woman. I’m not a runner, I just do a 5k here and there.
“The reason I didn’t train is because it symbolises not being prepared for something, like what happened to Joe and Fiona. Where you’ve just got to take every step as it is, every day as it is.
“I want to make that clear to people and hopefully inspire them that if they’re going through something challenging, whether it be what Joe and Fiona have been through or anything else, you can’t always be prepared for things, but taking it a day at a time you’ll get through it.”
She added: “What I’m going through now is nothing compared to Fiona and Joe.
“I would rather run a marathon every single day than lose my child.”
‘You could raise a million pounds, but it wouldn’t bring Archie back’
Although Fiona and Joe have much to look forward to, with the couple set to celebrate Christmas with a new child, Fiona confesses to feeling nervous given what happened to Archie.
“It is nerve-wracking. With Archie there were no tell-tale signs at all, nothing you could point to.
“With this child, there’s nothing you can test for, so how do I know it’s not going to happen again?”
Fiona is bowled over by Nicola’s fundraising efforts, though admits she’s left with bittersweet emotions.
“I’m so proud of Nicola and everything she’s doing, she’s amazing and I couldn’t thank her enough,” said Fiona.
“But in the back of my head I’m thinking, you could raise a million pounds, but it wouldn’t bring Archie back.”
‘This is Archie’s legacy’
I asked Fiona what she thought of Nicola running 18 marathons in 18 days with no training.
“She’s nuts.”
Nicola interrupts: “I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life, but this is probably the craziest.”
Fiona added: “Neither we nor Nicola want this to be in our name.
“This is Archie’s thing, everything is in his name, this is Archie donating all this money, this is his legacy.”
‘You look forward to him going to school, getting married. Then it’s all gone’
Neither Fiona nor Joe could put into words the feeling of losing a child so suddenly, at such a young age.
But Joe did his best.
“You’re constantly looking forward, thinking about when he goes to school, when he does this, when he gets married. Then it’s all gone.
“Nobody should have to go through that.
“Hopefully with research, one day they’ll be able to find something visible, find a trend, so they can prevent this from happening.”
To donate to Nicola Buchan’s Run for Archie Strachan, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/fiona-strachan-1717681261923
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