As some of you may know Cancer has been a bit of an evil in our family with loved ones on both sides affected by either breast, colon or skin cancer. So rather than sit and moan we decided to do our bit and also have a bit of a trip to the Big Apple and run the New York City Marathon on 4th November 2007.

Sue and I funded our own trip so all money raised goes straight to Cancer Research UK. 

So how did we get on, the short version is we ran it together all the way and came in at 3hrs 51 min and 27 seconds. Not as fast as I had hoped or as fast as I ran Chicago but much faster than Sue had hoped and 25 minutes quicker than she had run London 11 years previous. Sue did amazingly well and was ranked at 1572 of all women that ran it (total 39,000 runners c. 15,000 women). We came in at about 8000 and something overall.

People told me that New York is not a course to try a personal best, but of course I thought different despite the fact that Paula Radcliffe runs it at 10 mins outside her PB and world record.

So the day started well by taking the Staten Island Ferry with 5,000 other runners to the start in beautiful sunshine. We were only about 400 yards from the front at the start and crossed the start line in 2 mins to the sounds of Frank and “New York New York”. The first 14 miles were great and we flew along, enjoying the crowds, the bands, the sunshine, the view of Manhattan. We had lots of support as the married couple in matching Cancer Research tops with our name on. The crowd cheering Sue on not let me beat her.

We were on for 3 hours 35 up until this point, and then we saw the Queensborough Bridge that runs from Queens to Manhattan. A veritable Everest in our midst! It is 2 miles long over half of which is uphill and in the dark as you run along the lower deck. You exit at mile 16 where we met Sue's brother Hugh and his wife Ali ready to cheer us on and offering bananas.

Then its 4 miles dead straight along the undulating 1st Avenue to the Bronx and all you can think of is that you have to then turn around and run back to Manahattan. We, or probably me, really began to suffer, it's quite monotonous and the road is really wide so you are not so close to the crowd. Then into the Bronx where a supporter shouted "Nobody walks in the Bronx!".

It's then only 5.2 miles to the finish and all uphill!! I got really bad cramp at 24 miles in Central Park and Sue shouted at me to keep running "Just run it off!" I had heard that tone before, normally reserved for the kids when they are misbehaving and knew that it was not to be disobeyed!

So we ran in the last 2.2 miles counting down the yards with my brain screaming never again, saw Hugh and Ali again at the 800 meter mark and it then took us 6 mins to run the last 800 meters uphill past our hotel to the finish. Crossing the line holding hands with immense relief and posed for our photo together.

Now despite us crossing together the New York Times the next day had Sue beating me by 3 places!! But morally I have to concede too as she ran a great race and encouraged me all the way (I just got grumpier).

It only took 2 beers back at the hotel before I gave up on the never again and started talking about London, Berlin etc and the elusive 3 and half hours, after 3 beers it was the Namibia Desert Ultra Marathon or the Comrades double marathon in South Africa. Sue is hoping that it was only the beer talking. Time will tell but you always need a challenge to train for!!

So a great day, but a challenging one and much tougher than I thought. I would highly recommend it but implore you to train on some hills to get used to it rather than the flat Thames tow path!

Thanks again for your support and sponsorship, particularly to Ali and Hugh O'Brien who we saw, Sarah, Richard, Holly, Edward, Charlie Culbert and Caroline and Archie Roberts who we missed but still  lined the course and cheered us on and thank you for contributing to such a great cause.

See you soon

Gavin and Sue

PS Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Cancer Research UK will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.