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The answer to the question, “Can an overweight bloke in his late 40’s make it to the finish line?” is an emphatic yes, in a time of 2:40:53 at an average time of 7’.37”/km.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I’m looking forward to next year.  Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me as I couldn’t have done it without the spur of your support.  So far thanks to everyone’s generosity I’ve managed to raise £1,500 for the hospice and there’s still more to come.

Due to my somewhat patchy (ok, let’s be honest nonexistent) training regime I had steeled myself to either walk or crawl the course so long as I finished it – I received a rather frightening email some weeks before the race advising me that I should be running 8 miles a day without a problem – at that stage cumulative mileage run still hadn’t broken this important barrier and it never got past 13.

I started the day at the very back.  I was so far back, the winner was half way round the course before I even crossed the starting line.  My fellow runners in the Pink Zone comprised a motley assortment of Smurfs, Teletubbies, Supermen and fairies.  The most memorable of all was a very bewildered old lady dressed as a squaw, in a wheelchair mocked up as a tepee, being pushed by a Red Indian – I don’t think she had a clue what was going on and one got the impression she might have been unwittingly borrowed for the day from a retirement home.

Fortunately, at a party late on Saturday night I met a fellow runner called Tracie who gave me some crucial last minute tips on technique much of which, such as “Don’t drink the night before” was too late to apply.  By chance we bumped into one another again at the start and ran in step together until the last mile of the race.  As can be seen from the before and after photographs the run has helped me lose weight, regain lost hair and shed years - if you've ever though of taking part but not got round to doing it please lstudy these powerful before and after images and just do it.

Thank you to everyone.

Much love

Goffy