I took up running a few years ago, starting with my local parkrun in East London as the only exercise I seemed to be getting was walking to and from the car while commuting to work.

After taking a bit of time to conquer a 5k run I thought about challenging myself to a full 10k which I first completed in Richmond in September 2018. I then thought to myself what's the difference between a 10k and a marathon? (the answer is another 32k apparently!) so I signed up for the Brighton marathon in April 2019. With support from my running club, Viewtube runners based in Stratford by the Olympic stadium, I trained for what I thought I would never be capable of achieving either mentally or physically.

Over a period of around six months I upped my training runs, had to stop running at one stage due to illness and then returned to the hard slog of putting miles into my legs. I completed a couple of half marathons in February and March 2019 in just over 2 hours. On the 14th of April I completed my first ever marathon in 4 hours 35 minutes which I was both pleased and surprised by! Brighton is an excellent place to do a marathon with amazing support along the way.

Most normal people would probably be happy completing a marathon but unfortunately I'd got the bug so I signed up for Oslo in September 2019. More club runs followed, a hamstring injury hampered training but I managed to complete the distance in 4 hours 45 minutes. Again, a great supportive crowd and although Oslo is a lot hillier than Brighton, it made things more of a challenge which I enjoy.

Having come back from Norway I wanted another challenge so I signed up for a local marathon, Sikhs in the city, again in east London. More training with the Viewtube crew (massive shout out to all who supported me along the way and inspire me on every run) and perfect weather conditions helped me to achieve a PB of 4 hours 19 minutes.

During the gap between Oslo and Sikhs in the city I had what might be best described as a "mad notion" - in my head 20 marathons in 2020 sounded great (plus I like the symmetry) so I set myself the challenge...

I have finally completed the TWENTY marathons!

1. Milton Keynes in 4h 8m (a new PB)
2. Deal, Kent in 4h 35m (Running in the middle of storm Denis made me question my sanity somewhat!)
3. Cambridge Boundary run in 4h 47m
4. Forest Hall School marathon run in 4h 33m
5. Midnight marathon solo around East London in 4h 37m
   
6. Wanstead flats marathon in 4h 15m
7. Wanstead park marathon solo in 4h 38m
   
8. Manchester virtual marathon solo in 5h 2m
9. Dublin virtual marathon in 4h 52m
10. Bridges of London marathon in 5h 11m
11. Remembrance Sunday marathon solo in 4h 42m
12. Athens virtual marathon solo in 4h 36m
13. Limassol virtual marathon solo in 5h 23m
14. Crisis homeless charity virtual marathon solo in 5h 13m
15. Wanstead flats marathon II in 4h 43m
16. Great Welsh virtual marathon solo in 5h 04m
17. Southampton virtual marathon in 4h 52m
18. Snømannaton/virtual Oslo marathon solo in 4h 36m
19. Funchal virtual marathon solo in 4h 29m
    
20. Edinburgh virtual marathon in 4h 17m
    
    

Thanks for everyone's support throughout the year, it's been one heck of a challenge but I'm glad I managed to complete it in spite of the disruptions that have happened in 2020!