In May 2010, Rob graham, our MD, decided that he was no longer going to give into the middle age spread and set himself the challenge of running the edinburgh marathon in order to raise money for Wateraid. (If you are not sure who Wateraid are, they transform lives by improving access to safe water and sanitation throughout the world)
After 8 months of an intensive training regime (that basically involved "flailing" about at the side of the road, attempting to look like someone who has worn a pair of trainers before), he finally stood at the start at the starting line in Edninburgh on the 22nd of May 2011. Well, "standing at the starting line", isn't the most accurate description as he started in position 13,885 out of approximately 15,500 runners.
The initial 17 miles were apparently not as bad as he expected, and rumour has it, he even looked quite fresh as he ran past Kenneth Law's (of Capita Symonds) living room window. All that however was to come to crunching halt, just like his knees when he decided to take a 1 minute breather at 17.5 miles. Apparently many people hit the wall at this stage, but not Rob, no, he felt like the wall hit him, right across the knees. "Slowing down and walking was initially a relief, but after about 20 meters my legs began to sieze. I had to start running again otherwise I knew I wwould need to be carried accross the line".
Undoubtedly the best part fo the run was when he got to mile 25 and he saw his family at the side of the road. Cairn (the 5 year old ball of energy), jumped out and ran alongside Rob for the next few minutes putting the first smile on Robs face for about 20 miles!
Rob finished the marathon in 5:04 hours and in position 8266. So whilst it may not be the fasted time in the world, he is consoling himself with the fact that he overtook about 5000 people!
The total is still rising, but we have now raised over £2,200 for Wateraid, with more coming in each day, so a BIG thank-you to everyone who helped us hit our target. Thank you!
