Hello,

The marathon is finally over!! What an experience. I honestly went through some of the highest and lowest points of my life. The pain of mile 20 will never leave me but the endless cheering from the crowd and the finish line happily eclispe that feeling. I really want to hit my new target of £3000, so please donate generously to what is a fantastic charity. You can donate up until the end of July.

Oh and if you don't know I did it in 3 hours 35 minutes which I am pretty happy with!!

The original write up is below for those that haven't heard about what has been one hell of a journey.

Greetings all,

I am running the 'LONDON MARATHON'. I know I have been talking about it for many many years, but it is really happening. Training has had it ups and downs, literally!

I want to start with a little story explaining the pretty picture on this page. The story is explained by a text that was sent by a good 'mate' of mine to other good friends. I have had to edit due to obvious reasons.

'Just been for a run with Linny(Me!). About 2 minutes into it he is checking out somebody doing a fitness routine(other words were used!) on the common and then absolutely flushed a massive lamp post!! And when I say flushed I'm talking full on. FULL ON! Backwards and only backwards - zero forward movement. One second running, next second lying on his back on the pavement holding his face shouting "OUCH"(Other word used!!) Went down like a sack of spuds!(Other word used!) - solid bruise on forehead plus chipped tooth. Literally one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Feel free to ask him about it...

As you can imagine I got quite a few texts showing real concern. NOT! So now you all know, you have absolutely no excuse not to donate as much money as you possibly can to a great cause.

The charity is called VRH. My sister Mel has worked there for 18 months. Please check out the link to fully understand what they do. Being in education myself I strongly believe that VRH is a charity that is needed more than ever.

It is now time to dig as deep as you can. Lets go big! First of all it is me running along way, second of all it is for my sister's charity and third of all I ran into a lamp post during training!!

Any money donated will be hugely appreciated, so lets get to that £3000 target as quickly as possible and then pile through it.

Love to all of you,

Mark/Linny/Pat/or any other name you know me as!

PS Thank you for your donation and offer Giselle(Who ever you are?!!). I will be ready for my rub down within 1 minute of crossing the finish line!