UPDATE:

Marathon completed in 2:52:09. It felt great to be back and I tried not to get over excited by saving enough energy to make it round. What a day and thanks to the incredible support to each and every one of you who have visited the page and donated to this tremendous cause. A special shout also to Charli from Bowel Cancer UK for her support through this fundraise and the welcome I received from the team. Now for the recovery and to hopefully see the donations make a difference to people lives. Post race pictures also added.

This is in memory of both my auntie Sandra and uncle Chris who lost brave battles against Cancer that lasted several years. The knock on effects are still felt across the family and so I want to do something their memory.

My challenge is to to run the London Marathon in under 2 hours 48 minutes whilst raising as much money as I possibly can for Bowel Cancer UK.

So why should you donate towards this cause? Hear me out, my reasons are:

1. DETERMINATION: I spent two years recovering and carrying out extensive rehabilitation following breaking my pelvis and lower spine at this event in 2021.

2. COMMITMENT: Training for an endurance event requires extensive training which means doing things when you can. A lot of 5am starts or 20 mile training runs in torrential rain and gale force winds etc. Heavy training through the coldest months of the year.

3. WILLINGNESS: During the last few month in addition to a holding a full time and mostly demanding job I have been helping care for my elderly grandparents and assisting family following an extremely complicated childbirth for my sister.

4. THE CAUSE: I shouldn't really need to put this but we are all aware of the harsh reality of Cancer. If we are lucky enough to avoid it ourselves the odds of someone close to us getting it are extremely high and Bowel Cancer stats are alarming with 1 in 15 of us likely to get it.

In the photo gallery there are some pictures of my training which started in January (with a sprained ankle!) as well as a couple of photos from my build up races, Fred Hughes 10 and Cambridge Half Marathon which didn't go to plan but hopefully the big day will. With over 600 miles completed since January I feel I am in good stead

Finally, a massive thank you to Anna and my family for putting up with early starts, down days, eating any food in sight and just generally being a bit of a pain through this process. I hope to do you all proud.

If you don't know much about Bowel Cancer UK then please see below, thank you for reading:

We’re the UK’s leading bowel cancer charity.

We fund targeted research, provide expert information and support to patients and their families, educate the public and professionals about the disease and campaign for early diagnosis and access to best treatment and care.

We’re here to stop people dying of bowel cancer.