PARIS MARATHON COMPLETED! THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
 
It was a beautiful day running across Paris in the sunshine with 50,000 other people. There is quite a relaxed attitude to how close the crowd is able to get to the runners, which despite the odd near-miss of Parisians with bags of shopping crossing the track, makes for an amazing atmosphere with hundreds of people you’ve never met before cheering you on by name.
 
I had hoped to finish the marathon in less than 4 hours, which in training I seemed to be on track to do. On the day however, I had a fantastic first 15 miles, before starting to feel the strain. At 18 miles I started to get bad cramp in my left leg, which I’ve never experienced before, and in a short space of time this transformed my running style from a confident stride into something resembling a drunken camel. It was pretty grueling then on, but I managed to try to not focus on the pain and eventually made it to 26 miles. In the end my target became a battle to finish in under 5 hours and after ‘sprinting’ (I use this word loosely) the last mile, managed to cross the line in 4 hours 59 minutes and 37 seconds!
 
Thankyou to all of those who contributed towards my sponsorship!- I’m thrilled that once all pledges are in I should have raised around £900 towards the work of XLP in East London. This will be used towards running mentoring and creative arts based work, that I believe has the potential to play a genuine part in transforming the lives of young people.
  

This page will remain open for the next 2 months, so if you would still like to give, or know anyone who is interested please do take this opportunity to support a great cause!

Thanks!

Tom