Derry man to complete Walled City Marathon a year to the day after breaking his back

A Derry athlete will run his first marathon this Sunday, one year to the day he broke his back whilst holidaying in Spain.

Foyle Valley’s Adrian McGowan has made a remarkable recovery in just twelve months, progressing from a hospital bed to a wheelchair to a back brace to running 26.2 miles in the Walled City Marathon.

It is an incredible story of determination and perseverance from the 31-year-old, who feared his running days were behind him after falling from a tree in Lisbon on June 5 last year.

That moment was the beginning of a long journey of recovery for Adrian, who was determined not to be defined by his injury.

“I was transferred straight away from Lisbon to Albuferia and told I needed spinal surgery,” he recalls. “I have six pins now which will be in my back permanently. Initially they told me to forget about running for six months. The main thing was to get back on my feet first and foremost. I did that slowly, walking around and trying to build a bit of strength in my legs.

“You can imagine that you head away for a holiday and you’ve been running right up to that and you’re in peak fitness and that’s taken away from you. Each individual is different but I thought that there’s no way I can let this stop me. Walking was my aim first and foremost. To be a runner it’s not just about fitness, it’s about having the mentality, you need the mental toughness, so I thought ‘Sod it’, I’ll get up and get on with it. That attitude helped me.”

A regular runner, Adrian had to adjust to a much more patient lifestyle as he began his recovery, a difficult task for someone used to an active lifestyle.

“I had to get a wheelchair when I was coming back,” he continued. “I was down at the European championships so I was going into the pubs in a wheelchair and the shock on people’s faces was there. People were coming up to me and saying ‘I didn’t know it was that bad’. I couldn’t walk any distance at all so I had to be in the wheelchair.

“But then I visited a surgeon in Altnagelvin who told me not to rush because I was progressing very well. He told me that what saved me being in a wheelchair was my weight and my fitness, because I was a runner. After that I started to walk three or four miles and I gradually took the brace off which I needed to wear to keep my spine upright and straight.”

Running was never far from Adrian’s thoughts, and after having his back brace removed after months of frustration, he began to set his sights a little bit higher.

“Around January I got the all clear to do some light running so I set myself a wee personal target and I said what an achievement it would be to run a marathon,” he explained. “It just happened to fall a year to the exact day that I had the injury. I’ve been toying with the idea since because my training has been in and out, I’ve been in pain, but I basically made up my mind in the last four weeks that I would give it a go.

“The aim is to complete it, enjoy it and hopefully make it around in around 3 hours ten minutes, which is probably realistic. That’s the target. I run with Foyle Valley so I took a bit of advice on board. There’s a coach there called Gabriel Bell who has been instrumental in keeping me motivated. You need your head right so he has been key in keeping me motivated.”

Marathon training is no easy feat, but given his injury, Adrian knew he faced an uphill battle to complete the required mileage before the first weekend in June. He admits it wasn’t easy.

“I got back to very light running and the registration for the marathon opened around January I think,” he said. “I registered early to set myself that target but I didn’t think for a second that I would be back in serious training. I thought I would build it up a half hour a week and then extend than and eventually get up to a few hours. That was the only target I had, nothing else. My mum was telling me to be very careful because I had a bad injury.

“I did have my ups and downs. There were times I was trying to get up to 15 miles and I was out the line and I would just break down and have to walk to a mate’s house to get a lift home. At those times I thought I would never complete it, but more recently I have been doing a few 20 mile runs and I’ve felt okay so I thought I would give it a go. The last few weeks I’ve made up my mind that I would go for it and get around it, so fingers crossed.”

From 15 miles, to 17, to 19 and more recently 20, Adrian has succeeded every step of the way, with just one more obstacle in his way.

“I have just gone week by week,” he said. “The long runs comes with pain and the pain coms from scar tissue on the back. That’s linked but it’s not enough to stop me hopefully. I have a lot of help. Thomas McCallion has messaged me offering to help so I’ll not be without support. I’ll have family out on the course and I’ll have a lot of help from Foyle Valley. There’s a lot of motivation there.”

The timing of this year’s marathon was ultimately the deciding factor for Adrian, who became determined to prove to himself as much as anyone else that it could be done.

“That was the main reason,” he admitted. “I was a competitive runner so this was a personal target that I could get around it and compete a marathon, but the milestone is that it’s 12 months to the day when I had that bad injury. I’m on target now and I’m less than a week out. It’s just about keeping the legs turning over, getting the water into me, turning up on the day and getting it done.

“I’m slightly nervous. If you’re not nervous going into any sort of race, you can forget about it. I’m pensive as well because the most miles I’ve done is a few 20 mile rounds.

“I’ll have a lot of support around the course so that will definitely push me through it. It will give me a good buzz as well. I’ve had ups and downs throughout the whole thing. If you had asked me five weeks ago I would have said I’m not going to bother. But I decided to go for it and train hard for the last four weeks and that’s what I’m going to do.”