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Death of school friend inspires marathon mission
Posted: 11th March 2020The sudden death of a best friend inspired a non-runner to finally commit to taking on a physical challenge.
Vu Vo, senior IT technician at Royal Docks Academy had never been into fitness before the death of his old school friend.
He said: “I was always that tomorrow guy; I will do it later or I’ll add that thing to my bucket list. But, tomorrow never seemed to be the right time and a lot of things never got done.”
But, in 2018 that all changed.
He said: “I remember clearly being over at Simon's house, my oldest and best friend since childhood. We were talking up things we would do, saying that in our lifetime we would run the London Marathon. We promised.
“However, tragically and suddenly within two weeks of this promise, Simon passed away from sudden cardiac arrest, 35 years young.”
Simon Sin and Mr Vo had been friends since attending Royal Docks together, leaving the school in 2000.
Mr Vo will now run the London Marathon in memory of his friend and to raise money for CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young.
He is following a 16-week plan, running four to five times each week.
Students from Royal Docks are joining him on a Parkrun this month to further boost his fundraising pot.
He said: “I’ve learnt to be more grateful, realising tomorrow isn’t always guaranteed. We should act in the now to push and schedule to make things happen, rather than waiting for things to fall into place as it may never happen.
“In memory of Simon, I’m honouring our promise to run the London Marathon. To be honest, I’m a bit anxious as it is totally out of my comfort zone to even think to run 26.2 miles. Training has been harder than I had realised. I’ve wanted to quit on several of my long runs, but I’ve managed to keep inching forward.
“I’m determined to get to that finish line.” Visit Virgin Money Giving
