Pippa's TCS London Marathon 2025

I am running the TCS 2025 London Marathon for Headway - East Northants.

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I did it! 

London Marathon in 5 hrs 1 min, (Strava: 4 hours 56 min) 

thank you to everyone who followed my progress, sent well wishes and donated to this amazing charity ❤️ 

Bib collected! Less than 48 hours to go! 

£45 left to raise to hit my fundraising target! Thank you all so much who have donated, I can’t express how greatful and how much it means to me to be able to reach my target for such a worthy cause! 

Taper! 

Almost there! Final stretch! 

Last long run before the London Marathon! 

Loved our exploration of Stratford Upon Avon along the river, canal and greenway and finished off with parkrun. We finished off with a yummy breakfast at Boston Tea Party. The best company! ❤️

The next time I do a long run, I’ll be standing on the start line of The London Marathon! A dream, bucket list item to complete and I’m so excited. I feel very honoured to do it for Headway, the brain injury charity. 

Donations are so important with brain injury on the rise, it could happen to anyone’s relative or could happen to you. The donations go towards helping those recover or practice skills for every day activities with support and without judgement. It also allows clients and relatives get access to social and respite time as brain injury can be isolating and exhausting. 

“ each donation… improving the lives of the vulnerable people we support – people’s mums and dads, sons and daughters, brothers and sister, colleagues and friends whose lives have been forever changed.”

15 days to go! Thank you all so much for the support, no matter how big or small. ❤️

Pre- London Marathon, Marathon ✅ 29th March. 

I’m really pleased having completed the run! I had the option to only do 37km, but with 5K to go my brain wasn’t sure that I would complete it. So I went for it to psychologically prepare myself for race day! I felt very strong after carrying on and was pleased to be able to do a couple of quicker km at the end! I managed a huge PB and my dream marathon time on the day was 5 hours 30 min and managed to complete it in 5 hours 0 min! I’m so proud of that! Thank you everyone who has been motivating me and donating, it’s made a huge difference to my training and getting me out the door! 

At the start I needed a toilet stop because my alarm wasn’t set and so had to rush out the door. Secondly I body slammed over a gate which I misjudged which way it opened and now have a lovely bruise to show for it. Good to trial my current shoes too and they held up lovely, but possibly not as comfortable as my previous shoes. I also learned that as lovely as a mini roll is, when the chocolate has melted it’s not the most practical snack, but was worth it! I’ve learned a lot but glad overall it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to enjoying the race! 

A huge thank you to the best Husband Benjamin Horner, who despite feeling rough, woke me up, drove me to my starting spot and brought me heavenly squash and picked me up and drove us to a lovely breakfast date and back home. Appreciate you so much! Thank you ❤️

I’m very excited now leading up to the London marathon! A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far and if you would like to donate towards Headway (the brain injury charity) I would be very greatful to try and hit my target of £2000. We have currently raised £1169. 

After a hectic couple of weeks, time to catch up on the running! 

Did my 34km run on Tuesday (4th) of March. 

Decided to do the hilliest route apparently which my body did not welcome (250m elevation) and thought I wasn’t going to finish at 16Km. This was a very humbling experience but gives me confidence that I can get through it ❤️ with this in mind, my complaining about a few hills is nothing in comparison to what many people suffer with every day after brain injury. 

They can be debilitating and change a person completely or their ability to manage normally in every day life. Not only does it affect the individual, but their families and loved ones. 

Headway East Northants aims to support these clients who have suffered with brain injury in their centre focusing on normal daily activities, which are meaningful for them. This could be gardening, cooking, games, art and music and much more! 

This gives these individuals the safe space they need to have social support and their carers to have respite. 

I have raised £1,144/ £2000 for Headway East Northants. The charity pays £500 per entry, so the more we can help raise, the more goes to helping this population of individuals and it will mean to much to them ❤️

Did you know there are approximately 350,000 hospital admissions due to head injury every year? That’s an increase by 12% in 20 years! Also women’s head injury has increased by 28% in this time. 

This week was a deload week! Couple of 5km runs completed to recover from 2 weeks of long runs back to back! 

Enjoyed my zone 2 5km in the week and a trip to Kingsbury Water Park Parkrun on Saturday with good company! 

A huge thank you to all the donations so far you are all so wonderful and appreciated! Less than 50% left to raise now! 

84 days to go until race day! 

Sunday Long Run - 27km ✅ 

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported my fundraising campaign so far! I am now at 50% of my total of £2000 for Headway - EastNorthants.

It was lovely to meet Headway at the National Running Show this weekend! Their work is so important for their patients/clients and families. Every person who has a brain injury may have very different symptoms and things they struggle with.

Headway focus on trying to be personalised to every client with meaningful activities they would like to complete, with the approach of ‘what can be done’ rather than can’t due to their disability. The money raised will help people with brain injury have the support, time and opportunity to complete daily activities at these centres such as returning to cooking, gardening, woodwork, games (pool), music lessons and art. 

They also run social events to have a community atmosphere and aid socialisation skills so clients and families don’t feel alone. 

With today’s run I enjoyed that up until 23km and my legs just decided they had had enough! Managed to eat some flapjack and had the extra boost to make it home! Still can’t believe that I would have 15km left to run, but long run by long run, it will get easier, but shows how hard and far a marathon really is! 

Glad it’s done, slept well with the knowledge I have 2 rest days!

I am so greatful for all your support so far, it’s given me a huge boost of motivation and I can’t thank you all enough! 

Sunday Long Run - 27km ✅ 

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported my fundraising campaign so far! I am now at 50% of my total of £2000 for Headway - EastNorthants.

It was lovely to meet Headway at the National Running Show this weekend! Their work is so important for their patients/clients and families. Every person who has a brain injury may have very different symptoms and things they struggle with.

Headway focus on trying to be personalised to every client with meaningful activities they would like to complete, with the approach of ‘what can be done’ rather than can’t due to their disability. The money raised will help people with brain injury have the support, time and opportunity to complete daily activities at these centres such as returning to cooking, gardening, woodwork, games (pool), music lessons and art. 

They also run social events to have a community atmosphere and aid socialisation skills so clients and families don’t feel alone. 

With today’s run I enjoyed that up until 23km and my legs just decided they had had enough! Managed to eat some flapjack and had the extra boost to make it home! Still can’t believe that I would have 15km left to run, but long run by long run, it will get easier, but shows how hard and far a marathon really is! 

Glad it’s done, slept well with the knowledge I have 2 rest days! 

I am so greatful for all your support so far, it’s given me a huge boost of motivation and I can’t thank you all enough!

24km done! 

By far the hardest (mentally) run so far! Your donations make such a difference to helping me get through them! It’s such a great cause! 

Thank you all for your support! 

At the start of the year I managed to find a new exciting route through cambridge! Managed to run along the river Cam and finished off at Storeys Field Parkrun! 

Was very chilly but a well deserved breakfast and warm drink was had after! 

Thank you for all the support ❤️

Parkrun! The last of 2024! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Thank you everyone so much for supporting my fundraising campaign this year! I am at 36% of my target and the past few weeks have been keeping the legs moving before another few weeks of increasing distance! 

I have enjoyed parkrun after not being able to go for 4 weeks and run a 10k as my longest run on Christmas Eve! 

Planning to make some new routes which is exciting! Thank you all to have donated so far and hope you all have a prosperous new year! 

During the storm I was meant to run 1/2 marathon (but only planned to run 18km at this stage), but with concerns of safety decided to postpone it! 
Instead I ran 18km on Tuesday and have had William joining me for my 5km standard runs. Very enjoyable seeing all the Christmas lights and was very greatful for the company ❤️

🏃‍♀️Grafham Water 10 miler 🎉

Roller coaster of emotions! 

Really proud and pleased of my running, thinking back to my first 15Km with Becky in 2020 which took me 2 hours and how hard i found that, to now digging deep and beating that original time by 20 minutes, now 4 years later. Just reminds you of how far you’ve come! 

Aimed for a quicker pace than my easy long run to see what I have in the tank, but was unpleasantly surprised by the undulating hills 😂 oops 🤷🏼‍♀️

That was a very pretty run! Running from away from the water and when the trees cleared and there was the water and a stunning view, wow that was beautiful to see! 

Won’t forget this run and most likely will certainly be back. May even think about canicross for the doggo…. 😂

Next long run complete! 14km today in the wet, mud and cold! 

Was low on motivation but was glad to finish this one! Another parkrun #65 in the bag. ❤️

Onto 16Km (10 mile race) next week 🎉

So I worked today, but I got out and ran 10km! 

It was cold it was wet + the dark wasn’t much fun either! It is scary running as a female and not being able to see much is also daunting for where you are putting your footing! 

But big win that I saw my patients, made a difference and still got out despite the conditions and did my distance! 

13km! 

I had some company today on my ‘long run’ day! They were very friendly and had a run with me for a km. Won’t be long until 13km just feels like a middle distance run! 

Less than 6 months to go until race day! 

It’s officially today that I’ve started my training for the London Marathon 2025! 

Great run to start on, felt very strong! 

I’m back! 

Have been very busy in the background after injuring my back 3 months ago, working on trying to keep moving and recovering. 

I have been managing to start strength training 3x per week & aimed to keep running around 2 times per week whilst maintaining prior to official training. I have been keeping up at parkrun and been really enjoying my Saturday mornings ❤️

Hi Everyone! 

I am so honoured to run for Headway, a very important charity for individuals with brain injury from birth! 

I will post my runs and updates for my personal journey. Here is my last photo of me touring to Wales for a run! 2 training runs of 5km completed since then. Now I have a place I will work out a training plan and keep you all up to date! Now… to book the hotel and let it sink in that I will run the London Marathon in 2025!