Dear All,

We did it... another one for Regan!!!

The official time was 3:57:46 and thoroughly enjoyed every step. This was the first time I had actually completed a marathon with a friend and I have to give my rarely given respect to the athlete that is Ella Weston. She has a huge heart and a drive to succeed that I don't see in many people today.

We had discussed the race strategy for several months prior to the event and we both managed to stick to it from the first yard to the very last. However, it wasn't all smiles through the journey. From the beginning we were faced with a mass of runners ahead of us, which meant that we were trapped for 10 minutes before we even reached the start line. We split the lead pace frequently when one of us would see a gap ahead and this would allow us to break through a few more dozen people... This was short-lived, for we then merged with the Green and Blue starts which really slowed us down and knocked us off our intended pace. Once we finally got going we didn't reach a reasonable pace until about 9 miles in, which was then hammered to a complete halt for about 30 seconds as there was a bottleneck near a narrow street.

I was the first to admit to an injury, which felt like some form of ligament strain by my left knee after about 7 miles, I kept it to myself until about 12 when Ella clocked me struggling and falling behind...  I knew Ella had knee trouble and illness coming into the event and this had hampered her training schedule quite drastically so I was quite concerned about that too, and she finally surrendered the secret that it too had been playing up for several miles. I knew twinges and fatigue can be conquered from my previous experiences, but I knew Ella's body and mind might not be so sure. We dug in extra deep at that point and my discomfort faded away about 3 miles after but I knew Ella's hadn't, even though she said it had. What a tough kid she is.

To add salt into an already bleeding wound, the wind and rain came... This gave us soaking wet, cold and heavy clothing of which we were none too fond I can tell you! After about 40 minutes of this Ella and myself realised the rain in our shoes had sparked severe rubbing to our feet and those beautiful blisters began forming. We battled through like troopers, constantly reassuring each other that we still felt good to carry on.

I saw some horrendous looking outfits everywhere; a Paddington Bear suit, a guy in a Rhino outfit, Ballerinas, Superman was there obviously, Spiderman and others like it that you'd find in a fancy dress retailer- no kidding! Some of these guys were blistering through the field much to my annoyance, as we were trying to squeeze 2 people through a gap. A few flying elbows solved that problem anyway.

I knew our half way split was going to be sore, as we never really got striding until just before so we made it in 1:55:08. In my mind I knew that we were going to be hard pressed to break the 4 hour mark now as we were constantly zig-zagging to go through endless bodies and our legs were also going to get slower, a fact I knew only too well.

Fortunately though, we did an amazing 6 mile stretch to 19 or so, even with the weather and stole some much needed time back from the course. We powered through even though the legs were slowing and filling up of lactic acid. We drove each other on through the wall, Ella's came at precisely 19.5 and mine followed shortly after at around 22 miles. I was quite lucky in the way that my wall didn't last too long as my training and preparation had been thorough, my best yet but Ella had never experienced this type of pain before, not even in training. She pushed and pushed like a genuine champion and we both crossed the line still standing, never stopping and never regretting.

Ella, I thank you for 3 hours, 57 minutes and 46 seconds that I’ll never ever forget. I'd run with you anytime.   

As for those who have sponsored me, I am always grateful. For those that haven't and have been asked.. I'll find you.

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Many thanks,

Callum