Jawad Akhtar’s Finishing Delight at London Marathon

After hearing stories from a close friend of his first Marathon, I was convinced to enter in the London Marathon. Training was tough and for someone who doesn’t run often this was a real mental and physical challenge. I managed to get a place through the ballot and knew straight away who I wanted to run for, the Imran Khan Cancer Appeal. I incurred many injuries and cramps though my training but felt good in the run up to the big day.

On the marathon day, I started off at a decent pace but only to get bad shin splints at only 3 miles in! By the 7th mile, my calf strained due to the pressure being applied to the heels to allow the shins to rest and at Tower Bridge, the hamstring decided it was too much. I managed to hobble to the medics who helped me at every point I saw them with massage and pain killers!

I was told to remember one thing that when it gets tough remember the charity and the people you are running for. With this I hobbled over to the finish line in great pain but delight that I managed to finish this race and all the hard work will go to a great cause. On my fundraising page http://www.justgiving.com/Jawadakhtar, I have raised £1,435 so far but the page is still open for you to support me. Now I am a confident runner and looking forward to take part in other marathons. Surely I would do this all again in the name of IKCA!