London, 26th April 2026 - four time marathoner.
I keep coming back to a moment in 2016 when our burgeoning office run club - coupled with a healthy dose of peer pressure (thank you
@chloecfe ) - led to my first entry into the London Marathon ballot. what followed was an anxiety induced wait, day after day, refreshing emails with maddening regularity to see if I’d made it in.
Enough introspection in the meantime tells me it wasn’t because I wanted to be successful, but because I was terrified of what it might mean if I was.
Speaking 10 years later, the carousel of smiles from this weekend tell their own story. i’m proud of the person i seem to have become. running “another” marathon, in my home city, in front of loved ones and unknown ones cheering like loved ones. pacing my partner, spending 26.2 miles totally invested in her success as an extension of my own. everything it took to sign up to that first marathon, realised in London - finally.
Pride is the only option.
My forever thanks to:
@londonmarathon for accepting my application only when I’d learned what it meant to run those streets on THAT weekend (a record breaking weekend,
@adidas fam ///).
The
@blues_foundation for graciously giving me the chance to raise €3k on their behalf - and to so many of you for helping get to that total. running with a charity behind you hits different 💙
Friends, family, the very best cheer squad in town - thank you for making home feel like home 🫂
And
@salvatierrafer - for trusting me as a coach, pacer, and +1. i’ve said everything i can say, but for the avoidance of doubt, i’m proud of you. running fast is easy, grinding when it gets hard is real work. that finish line feeling was all the sweeter because we went on the journey together. it will forever be one of my favourites.
🇬🇧🫖✨
