Thursday 14th May: London Marathon for Oxfam

It's still only just sinking in that I ran the 26.2 miles of  the London Marathon on the 26th.  But after taking training ridiculously seriously for the last 4 months, it all paid off and was totally pain free and a total joy.  I knew I wanted to do another one as I saw the finish line coming into view at Buckingham Palace.  Not only did I complete it in a steady consistent 10 minute mile but also racked up a £3,500+ for the DRC projects I chose via The Music Circle / Oxfam.  Whilst being AWOL from this blog, I recorded the whole process over on Running Rainbow World Tumblr 

I also had the opportunity to share the message on BBC6Music radio thanks to Lauren Laverne, making Coby's mixtape her "Memory Tape" of the week.  See feature here where I note that I am exactly the same age as the London Marathon!  Hopefully I also explained it reasonably coherently through my nerves live on air.  When I pitched to Oxfam to get the place I pledged to spread the word, so this was also a target I wanted to fufill too (see article I wrote here).  Now I feel that I have honoured all duties, I can get my life back, start going out again and return to recording it all on here.  Normal service shall resume.  However I'll still be running.......................  :  )

Thanks to everyone who helped me on this journey:  NikeLab for the training programme, Charlie Dark & RunDemCrew for the love of running, my family & friends for coming out to cheer me on the day, Ash Narod for capturing my antics in colourful cosmic portraits, Rosie Lees for the swish swoosh logos, Stretch London for complimentary yoga, everyone who supported my fundraising,  Verity Keefe for coaching me thru fundraising, all who came to my quiz night, all the kind donations as prizes, Gemma Cairney for hosting, Kate Hutchinson and The Music Circle for introducing me to Oxfam, and most importantly Oxfam for looking after me so well from start to finish.   

(Images:  customising my outfit thanks to Kitty Joseph's vinyl collection, pre-race chat with record breaker Paula Radcliffe, cycling between work and training sessions, my race-day rainbow hair, at the   post- race Royal Academy reception held by Oxfam)