I am a 48 yr old firefighter and I've never ran a marathon before, in fact, I don't do much running at all. I was honoured to meet and walk with Major Phil Packer (www.philpacker.com)

Phil was inspirational and I'm a better person for meeting him. I will be carrying a 55 pound backpack during the marathon and when things get hard, I'll think of Phil and the children in the Burns unit at Alder Hey and that will motivate me to finish.

All monies raised will go to Alder Heys Burns unit to help children who have suffered in house fires or who have endured the pain of a burn through other accidents. I have seen at first hand the devastation a fire can cause.

Each year, Alder Hey send children to the Manchester Burns Camp where they receive respite care whilst enjoying the break from hospital (it's like a holiday for burns victims)

It costs £1100 to send two burns victims to the camp and last year six people went at a cost of £3300, money which Alder Hey need to find. I would love to hit £10000 and leave something in the kitty for the future. Please help me by donating what you can

I would like to thank the following people for their support:

My family

Salisbury Athletic FC

Adapt Outdoors Liverpool

TiersCo

X - Bionic

everyone who has donated

I completed my first marathon in 6 hrs 19 mins though they spelt my name wrong on the official site (mcbrian). If I had a pound for every time that's happened then I would never have had to ask you to donate!
The race went well in places and not so well in other places. Began well and intended to walk the last bit of the tunnel as I had heard it was a long hill that gets people; unfortunately for me, I had to walk the whole of the tunnel as cramp began to set in, in my right quad. Came out of the tunnel onto a long incline and my left quad cramped up and as I tried to stretch it out my left hamstring immediately cramped too. I felt like I was doomed as I couldn't even walk. Managed to dig in and then hit Upper Parliament St. My mate ran the race in 3:14 and said UPS was a killer so that made me feel better!
I must have experienced the wall at 18 or 19 miles as we came to the park and as I began to really dig in and think about my dad, the kids in Alder Hey, Phil P, Mike H and the 96. I found myself welling up....my head was all over the place. Legs were shot now and the park was demoralising as there seemed to be no end to it. Got out and the stewards said the roads were now opening up again and I had to get on the pavements. Looked at my watch and for the first time I thought about cracking 6.5 hours, the challenge had took a new twist. I'd had numerous stops due to the weight of the bag making my back and shoulders ache, feet were blistered and bleeding and legs were shot but I now thought long and hard about my pain and it was nothing compared to the people above. Jogged down UPS and along past the Albert dock and caught sight of my two favourite birds (Liver) at the finish. Massive thanks to those that turned out to cheer us all on, your encouragement was tremendous.

 

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