A huge well done to Dominic Hannett, our Director of Clinical Services, for completing the London Marathon!
Dominic participates in a fundraising event every year, and this year is raising funds for BLESMA, the military charity for limbless veterans, in what has been his first formal marathon!
From Dominic:
“I’m thrilled to update that I successfully completed the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon – in fact, according to my trackers, I ended up doing 27.5 miles (probably doing the weaving about on the course!)
What an incredible day. The sheer volume and level of crowd support was quite frankly overwhelming at times. I had a hat and headphones in to put music on at times where I need to zone out but, at the densely crowded areas of the route (Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge, Embankment, etc) I couldn’t hear the music if I wanted to!
The atmosphere was amazing, from chatting to people on the way to the start line to finally crossing the line, it was a true community event. I had family and friends on the sidelines at various points and even a surprise appearance in the crowd from our own Kirsten Til who had come into the City to cheer me on. They all gave me a real boost.
For those that have followed my blog and updates, you will know I went into the race with some injuries around my hip and legs so I had broken the race down into goals ranging from short to long-term. This is something we do at work all the time to map out a plan to achieve something that can feel out of reach at the start of a journey.
From my last update, I have 7 goals:”
COMPLETE THE COURSE………….. Done!
MINIMISE PAIN…………………………my hip “went” at around mile 14 but I had set a manageable pace and was able to hold it
HIT MILE 1 AT 7min 50ses………… I completed it in 7mins 49secs
HIT 10K AT 50m………………………..I hit 10k at 47mins
HIT 13 MILES AT 1h 43m…………. I arrived after 1hr 41mins
HIT 20 MILES AT 2h 30m………….. I got there at 2h 34m having held my pace with the hip being a problem
COMPLETE IN 3h 30m………………I finished in 3 hours 25 mins to beat my target time by 5 minutes
“It was really inspiring to see the efforts of all those around me and, despite the pain I felt after the event, it was a day I will treasure in the memory for many, many years.”
