I ran the London Marathon in 2023 and absolutely loved it. After that I pretty much stopped running and now the time has come to get fit again. I was keen to get running again and the appeal of the Original Marathon made me sign up.

Sponsor Dean

It’s an interesting route starting in Windsor near the castle and finishing off near Wormwood Scrubs! Supporters can easily get to North Harrow and then get some shopping in at Westfield whilst I make my way to the old BBC studios.  My son mentioned to his teacher that I was running the marathon and now she has also signed up.

I am leaving Aspire in March after 10 years and this is a great way to do some more fundraising for them. Aspire does a fantastic job of supporting people with a spinal cord injury and so I know that all of the money raised will go to a cause.

I ran the London Marathon in just over 5 hours. I am training hard to come in under 5 hours this time although this might depend on traffic and getting across roads safely! The atmosphere in 2023 was incredible and I couldn’t believe the amount of people that come out to support the runners and the noise levels especially around Canary Warf and along embankment. It was tricky keeping an eye out for friends and family along the route but the frantic waving helped.

                           

At the moment I am out running three times a week. My family love parkrun and I’ve managed to get my time down to 28 minutes but there is no way I can catch my 8-year-old son who is around 24 minutes! I then run on a Wednesday night and get in a long run on a  Sunday adding on time and distance each week. To help get under 5 hours I am going to try and get in a short 4th run or get in some cycling.

My colleague Tom is running the London Marathon in April, so we are tracking each other on Strava for support. It’s been really helpful sharing running tips, routes and equipment but not so helpful discussing this over cakes and biscuits!

I am pleased to say that I have already hit my target of £250 thanks to a generous member donation and a fund quiz night. The quiz night was great fun and I had five rounds based around the generations (Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha). The table quiz was “Guess the flavour of crisp” which went down very well.

                               

I have linked my Strava to my JustGiving page so that anyone who sponsors me will be able to see how my training is going. I am also posting regularly on my social media pages such as TikTok. I would really love to get up to £1,000 if I can.

Sponsor Dean

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