'How running helped me cope with unbearable grief'

A woman who lost three family members within the space of 17 months has said running has helped her cope with their deaths.

Lisa Jackson, from Worthing, West Sussex, completed her 100th marathon in 2016 and decided to put running on hold to spend more time with her husband, Graham.

"I'm really glad I made that decision because within a year and half he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer," she said. He has since died.

The 58-year-old said the grief was overwhelming, preventing her from running another marathon for seven years.

She added: "Running for me is a battle with myself and because I was fighting for the best treatment for my husband. I didn't have the fight left in me to run marathons."

Jackson, who works as a hypnotherapist, picked up running again, stating that it was a "meditation on how to thrive in the face of trauma" to lead "a joyous, meaningful life".

She has written a memoir, Still Running After All These Tears, about her determination to survive unbearable grief.

Jackson, who grew up in South Africa, took part in the Brighton Marathon last year, carrying some of the ashes of her deceased husband, scattering them after crossing the finishing line.

She said the "symbolic action" was to mark 17 months of trauma when she lost Graham, her sister Loren and her father Anthony.

Jackson is training for this year's Brighton Marathon - her 110th marathon race.

She has run 109 marathons in 22 different countries.

Her first run was a Cancer Research UK Race for Life event at Battersea Park, London, in 1999.

When she competed in the Edinburgh Marathon, she ran the 26.2 miles (42.2km) but "felt terrible afterwards" and "was in agony", she said.

In Jackson's third marathon in Paris, she adopted a run and walk strategy, which she said worked so well she wrote a book called Running Made Easy.

Talking about her marathons, Jackson said she was not the fastest runner and often finished last.

"When you're at the back, you have a lot of time to chat with others," she said.

"It's much easier than a face-to-face conversation. I've told people things I've never told anyone else."

She added: "I often rescue fellow runners at the back which is why some people call me the Mother Teresa of marathon running."

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