The conditions for the Marathon on Sunday were fantastic. There was a clear blue sky, an ideal running temperature and crowds lining every part of our route. This made up for having to catch a coach in the dark at 6am out to Staten Island!

 

The run started at 9.40 with Frank Sinatra blasting out over the public address system and a distant view of the Manhattan skyline. The route took in Brooklyn and Queens before crossing into Manhattan, up 1st Avenue and crossing into the Bronx before returning over Madison Avenue bridge to Manhattan. We ran down 5th Avenue with the Empire State Building towering above the sea of runners ahead of me. The last few miles were in or near Central Park where the crowd were even larger and louder.

 

Amazingly I somehow avoided hitting ‘the wall’ and have to say that I enjoyed every step. My time was 3 hours and 40 minutes which was significantly better than my target and 6 minutes faster than the time I achieved running the London Marathon 18 years ago. I must say that I was motivated by the thought that so many people have been so generous in their support to expand the library facilities at the Merchants Academy in Withywood.

 

Your support will be appreciated and will provide much needed additional resources to enable the Academy to make a real difference to the lives of the many young people that pass through it. Thank you.