'I'm so proud to run in my late wife's footsteps'

In 2023, Collette Green ran back-to-back marathons and was training for a full ironman race before she started to lose her hearing.

Doctors eventually diagnosed a rare cancer and she would endure 35 rounds of radiotherapy.

When her husband Mike found out, he secured a place in the Manchester Marathon for 2025 and Collette planned his training at their home in Ipswich.

In January last year, the treatment stopped working and Mike decided to defer his marathon place, before Collette passed away on 18 May, aged 42.

Mike, 43, says he is now running in her footsteps and keeping her memory alive as he takes on his own back-to-back marathon challenge later this month.

Mike and Collette met at university in Surrey in 2001, married in 2010 and had two daughters, Emily, now 13, and Abi, 10.

Mike explained that Collette, who grew up in Terrington St Clement in Norfolk and worked as a paediatric dietitian at Ipswich Hospital, had taken on both Manchester and London marathons over consecutive weekends back in 2023.

She then decided she wanted to take on a full ironman race consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.8km) swim, 112-mile (180km) bike ride and 26.2-mile (42.2km) run.

Training was going well, but she noticed she was losing hearing in one ear.

After various doctor visits, Mike said doctors told them they had found something and "everything escalated from there".

Collette was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal, a rare cancer of the upper throat, behind the nose.

She began her treatment in 2024 which Mike said was "brutal".

Things did improve and Collette was getting her energy back, but in 2025 she was told the cancer had spread to her liver and the disease stopped responding to treatment.

"She was a kind, helpful person who would go out of their way to help people," Mike said of his wife.

"One of the most telling examples of that was when we had lots of terrible news last year... one of the appointments we went to they said the chemo wasn't working which I think Collette knew deep down.

"I still had hope, but to be told that devastating news, she actually, in true Collette style, just got on with things.

"She went to help clear her friend's mum's flat who just passed away."

After Collette died, Mike said he was "all over the place" dealing with the emotions while still looking after their daughters.

But he knew he still wanted to run the 2026 Manchester Marathon as Collette had known about his place before she died.

"Unfortunately I'll be now doing it in her memory; she won't get to see me do it," he continued.

"I can't remember exactly whether I was looking back at photos or because we've still got her medals up, but I saw London Marathon, and thought, 'why don't I just do London?'."

Mike was able to get a place for London through the Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity and he is raising money for its radiotherapy fund which helped Collette.

"It'll mean so much to me, to be able to do what Collette did, following in her footsteps," he said.

"She was such a keen runner... she ran both Manchester and London and did an incredible run for both of them.

"For me to be able to do what she did, albeit now in her memory, means so much to me and the girls, because they're going to come with me.

"I'll probably be an emotional wreck at the end... I can't put into words how much it'll mean to be able to do what she did."

Mike said training had been going well and he was sticking to Collette's training plan, which is on their fridge "in her handwriting... which makes it even more special".

"It's really hard doing it on your own; not being able to talk to someone when you get home from a run," he said.

"I did a long run [last week] and came home exhausted, she's not there to say, 'how'd you get on?'.

"It's hard, but in a way it spurs me on... when you see someone you love go through treatment and be in that pain - I [know] I can do two marathons.

"It's not a patch on what she went through."

The Manchester Marathon is on Sunday, 19 April, with London's the following Sunday.

One of his daughters will do the Mini London Marathon, a shorter race of 2.6km (1.6 miles) for children.

"It'll be quite cool that we both crossed that finish line the same weekend," he added.

Mike said he expected Collette to be with them there in spirit.

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