Julian had this to say on his first London Marathon experience:

‘This year I took part in the TCS London Marathon 2024 and I was lucky to get a Charity place with MENCAP with is a cause that is close to my heart to help people with learning disabilities.

The whole experience was incredible and this year was a recored breaking year with more than £66 Million being raised that surpassed the record in 2019.

Before the big day, I had a mixed bag of feelings, nervousness, excitement, doubt, adrenaline and confidence because it was my first ever Marathon. 

I arrived at Greenwich in good time and there were thousands of people who were getting ready for their start times. The first thing I wanted to do was to drop my bag to Lorry 33 and this would be then transported to the finishing line. After a couple of nervous toilet breaks, Wave 15 was called out and we had to get into our pen. This took a while, it took about 20 minutes to finally get to the starting line and I couldn’t wait to start as it was pretty cold.

Then in no time, Blue Wave 15 were off and the journey began! 

Throughout the whole Marathon, the crowds were absolutely amazing, complete strangers calling your name and giving support to everyone was so motivating. It really showed how much compassion us runners have with each other because everyone was supporting each other. Listening to so many touching stories really hit home to the reasons why we do this.

Running around London was iconic to see so many landmarks including the Cutty Sark, The Shard, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, London Eye, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace.

I had many moments throughout the Marathon where I was blown away and I’ll never forget them. 

My aim was to finish the London Marathon in 5.00hrs and I achieved a time of 4:55:46 and I am really happy with my time! I didn’t hit the wall and I had my legs throughout, this was aided by controlling my pace, hydrating and fuelling correctly.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported and sponsored me throughout, it has really meant a lot.’

Julian

If you wish to further donate to Julian’s cause, please follow the link below.