I took on the Paris Marathon in April for Aspire because their cause is deeply personal to me and so many others, especially after my dear friend Seb, a talented fellow medical student, experienced a life-changing spinal injury in December 2023. Seb's journey has been nothing short of inspiring. Despite the severity of his injury, he remains incredibly positive, resilient, and determined. He is such a wonderful presence in all our lives. 

Sponsor Bianca

I didn’t have much experience of distance running at all before I took on the Paris Marathon in April.  I had only picked up running a year and a bit before and I had only raced a few half marathons and so was rather new to it all. I come from a family of runners and endurance cyclists, and my grandad has run many marathons in his lifetime (and fast, but never Paris or London) so you could say it was only a matter of time before I picked it up too. I had just played tennis through my childhood and at university so far which is very different.

The hardest part of my training was just the functioning on totally fatigued legs mid training block.  I ran the Cambridge half mid training block on one of my peak mileage weeks and I just remember my legs feeling so heavy that day, that really was brutal. The other thing was trying to find times to run in daylight hours as a full-time medical student was tough, balancing everything was a challenge but given I have always found running - and sport more generally - to be a major stress reliever and refocussing strategy, it was lovely to have the excuse to go out on these insanely long runs on a Saturday. I wouldn’t have been able to do those without the community over at Tracksmith (my running club). The people there carried me through those criminally long runs (28km+) and I will be training with them again for London!

I took on the Paris Marathon to prove to myself and others that we can all do hard things. I am so lucky and grateful to be able to move my body in a way that lets me train and run a marathon distance, and training for Paris through all the dark cold winter was a real daily reminder of how lucky I am. Most importantly I think setting myself that challenge meant so much more than just running 42.2km; it was 42.2km in support of a very dear friend of mine. I imagine the mental toughness that came with that marathon is only a glimpse of what a spinal injury patient has to endure through their lives, so it was a good lesson in resilience.

Paris Marathon 2025

Taking part in the Paris Marathon was probably one of the best days of my life so far. That day meant so much to me, mainly because I was able to do this for Seb. The marathon itself was the best part of all the training.  The buzz lining up at the start line was unreal. We had just spent the morning celebrating my 22nd birthday (which was on the day of the marathon) with a surprise breakfast of plenty of pastries supplied by my wonderful friends in the Airbnb and I was so excited to run through the beautiful route through Paris.  A moment I will carry with me for a long time has to be the start line. The announcer for the race said the words “We are all here for different reasons. But one thing here unifies all of us in that we all have a why. Through the next 42km, remember your why”.  These words really resonated with me and that has stayed with me since. It is something I carry through with me in many things I do now, not just running and training.

The Parisians absolutely know how to celebrate a sport! I had support absolutely the whole way. Everyone shouting “allez allez allez” at you the whole way!  The best part was seeing my family and friends who had all come out to support me. When things got tough for the legs, all I had to do was try and run to the next set of family and friends along the course. I felt very lucky to have them there supporting me. We had an incredible chocolate mousse for dinner to top it all off (deserved).

Since I ran the Paris Marathon Seb has been able to go home after 16 months in hospital since the accident which is phenomenal progress and a huge joy to see as friends. During my intercalated iBSc in Immunology, I spent countless hours sitting beside Seb. When we heard the news of his accident, it was a devastating moment for all of us at medical school. But throughout this experience, Seb’s unwavering spirit has shown just how important support is.  He still requires a lot of care and support, being fully ventilated and having quite a high cervical spine injury and the fundraising lots of us managed to do while he was in rehab was instrumental to getting him home. Aspire has been instrumental in supporting this process. 

My fundraising effort just meant so much to friends and family around me that it was off pure generosity and sharing of the page around wider platforms that I was able to raise a fantastic £1,675.

London Marathon 2026

I am beyond excited for the London Marathon. The atmosphere is just incredible, and everyone will be there once again running for their ‘why’. Having been to watch it several times and to be able to have my Seb there cheering me on will mean the world (Seb was still in hospital when I ran Paris).

Running the London Marathon makes this all even more special as it’s the city where Seb and I are both part of the same medical school community. Every step I take in this marathon is for Aspire and the incredible impact they have on so many lives. Aspire has done so much to help Seb, we as a larger friendship group feel it is important to help them support as many people who have a spinal cord injury as possible. Not just this, but as a medical student I feel in a unique position to try and raise awareness about spinal injuries in young people, which can truly happen to anyone. 

Sponsor Bianca

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