Tom Brain

The fat lady can sing her heart out now! 7 marathons in 7 days done and dusted. 295.4km covered. It chewed me up, spat out, stripped me down and built me back up again. A truly incredible week full of so many highs and a few lows. Thursday evening through to Saturday my foot was so painful I didn’t know if we’d make it to the end. I knew I wanted to push the envelope of what I was capable of, take it to a place I’ve not been before. I wanted to endure. I wanted to suffer. What I didn’t expect was this to become a beautiful thing beyond any of that, beyond me. It truly did take a village and it has been so life affirming how many people came out to support, gave themselves, their energy, their time, and resources to this mad week and make it a celebration of community doing good, honest work together. What a joy it is to run with your mates. I am so touched by everybody’s kindness, we’ve raise over £6,000 for Alzheimer’s society which is just incredible! It has just gone beyond any expectations that were there before we started this thing. The link is still open in my bio if you’d like to keep the ball rolling. Thank you to each and every one of you for your donations, words of encouragement, daily check ins, training runs, sorting the brand deals, driving me home, for sharing miles and miles and miles, baking brownies, tracking my dot constantly (yes I did go to Five Guys a lot), driving ice buckets around, sorting saunas recovery sessions, filling me with confidence, coming out every single day, for the handmade signs, keeping me supplied with maccas, pastries, ice creams and drinks, offers of logistical lifts if the wind picked up, using your own holiday allowance, offers of lunch, lending compression legs massage guns and medicine balls, paying out of your eyeballs for parking, keeping me grounded, for traveling from all over the country, running distances you never have before, sharing the mission far and wide, for the incredibly kind gifts and to Ellie, as crew chief, who put up with it all, let the house be made into an aid station and endured the pain too. Thank you to you all. I’m off for a lie down. I.T.A.Y.G?

Easter, the thinking man’s Christmas

6 weeks out from running 7 marathons in 7 days. Quite a long way now I’ve had a think about it. 295.4km to be precise. Been getting the miles in with some of the best people I know the last few months. I’d love to say I’ve been back-to-baking half marathons but I’ve had a Sopranos re-watch on the go so we’ve been vibing it when we can. Will all come together nicely come April 20th I reckon. Still on the waitlist for a London Marathon place with Alzheimer’s Society so there’s still a small chance the last one will be in the big smoke but if you are about 20-26 April and want to run a bit or all of one it’s very much a more the merrier situation, so come through! If you’re able to donate via the link in my bio or share the mission by giving this post a share to stories that would mean the world. Would love to raise as much as possible for @alzheimerssoc with one last big challenge.

Valencia marathon terminado ✔️ Hottest marathon here in twenty years, apparently. Fuck me did it feel it. No bleeding nips though so that is growth. Feels like as good a time as any to throw down a bit of a gauntlet.  Earlier this year I applied to run London Marathon for @alzheimerssoc I figured as competition was going to be fierce that it needed to be a hefty challenge so I said to them I’d run 7 marathons in 7 days finishing in London on the Sunday.  Unfortunately they still didn’t go for it but I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. So from April 20th-26th I’m going to be running a marathon a day for 7 days to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society. With both my grandparents living with dementia it’s a charity very close to my families heart. If you have or have ever had a Soho House membership it’s an automatic £100 donation I’m afraid.  If you donate £300 you can choose a song for me to listen to on repeat for one marathon. Donate £1000 and I’ll do one in a weighted vest. No real rules except the distance has to be completed as one. No half marathon in the morning, half in the evening bullshit. Sorry in advance for the 4 months of updates. The link to donate is in my bio. Do not go gentle into that good night.

Thrilled to announce: JOY. present Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live at Preston Park, 2026. A very special project to have been working on. A historic show for Nick, JOY. and Brighton needed an announcement video and bespoke design fitting of the occasion. The video was shot over one night in August with archive footage and lyrics projected on to Brighton landmarks relevant to the Bad Seeds work. An amazing vision from Jay Bartlett carried out so well by him and his team. This one will live long in the memory. Tickets on sale next Friday!

From the road

Sights, bites & hikes

A most bountiful year

C’est Bon

Brighton marathon complete! What an Incredible vibe from start to finish and I only lost one toe nail and didn’t realise my nips were bleeding every where until I finished so I’ll take that as win. My target going in to training was just to just finish and not shit myself so I’m dead pleased to do both of those things whilst getting in at 4hr15. Thank you to every single one of you for your donations, support, advice, kind words and cheering on the route. Seeing your faces got me through that. Especially the last 10km when bits of me were hurting I didn’t know existed. I truly appreciate it so much. Big respect to anybody going the distance today. Some dig that. On to the next 🫡

Thirst trap for the algorithm In April next year I’m going to be running the Brighton Marathon and raising funds for Alzheimer’s Society. For the last few years my nan has been living with Dementia and as is par for the course with this one, things seem to be on the decline. I’d always known it was a cruel disease but nothing can prepare you for somebody not recognising their own family, it’s simply heartbreaking. What I hadn’t factored in was the toll it can take on family members. I’ve been in awe of my mum, who has become full time carer for both my nan and grandad whilst continuing to work full-time as a teaching assistant, no mean feat on its own. Her strength and resilience is an inspiration, so I thought the least I could do is jog a few miles and try and raise some funds for a charity that provides vital care and support for people living with dementia, families and carers. There’s a link in my bio to donate. If you can spare a few quid I’d be forever grateful. Cheers 👌🏼 (I’ve never run more than 25km and I was completely fucked so if anybody fancies a low-slow run any time please slide in to the DMs, I’ll need your help with the winter training)

Easter, man. Ya can’t beat it.