We’ve gathered a few personal tales from scientists in and around the CSC who ran the London marathon yesterday. Are there any more of you out there? Do get in touch and tell us how the day went for you.

CSC scientist smashes personal marathon target

Peter Faull, head of the mass spectrometry and proteomics facility here at the MRC’s Clinical Science Centre in West London, was running his first marathon. He finished comfortably under his personal target of a 3 hour 15 minute run.

“I finished in 3 hours 9 minutes and 1 second. I’m over the moon that I came in under my target time,” Peter told us. ”That was the crowd. It was quite overwhelming at times but it was the crowd that brought me in.”

Peter’s family and friends tracked his progress using the London marathon app. He said he had a string of messages waiting when he looked at his mobile phone after queuing to pick up his medal. “My parents in northern Ireland and my brother in Melbourne in Australia all knew my time as soon as I crossed the finish line.”

The Crick is up and running

Jim Smith, director of research at the Francis Crick bio-medical research Institute in King’s Cross, was equally thrilled with his performance yesterday.

Jim is an experienced marathon runner. “I’ve run 13 or 14 but not for a while. The early morning training was tough, especially in the winter. But the day itself was fantastic,” Jim told us. He said there were some great moments, for example when he spotted Paula Radcliffe. “It’s reminded me of how much I love running and how much I miss it. I have that lovely ache in my legs. I’m definitely going to get back into it.

Jim decided to enter when he heard that money raised through Cancer Research UK would be going to the Crick. He raised £6267, and finished with an official time of 4 hours 3 minutes and 55 seconds.

Cancer Research UK

Kathy Weston, who worked as a scientist on an oncogene called Myb until 2009, now works on science communications at Cancer Research UK (CRUK). She has never run a marathon before, and describes herself as “a Sunday runner”. She said she was astonished at the support from friends and family and she also raised just under £5000 for CRUK and the Crick. “I was determined not to give up. I knew I’d tackled the first half too fast, which is what everybody does. I was following the 5-hour pacer, then I lost him and then the 5 hour 15 minute pacer overtook me. I ended up walking and running the last bit.” She said she was delighted to finish, and in the end it hadn’t been as awful as she’d thought it would be. She planned to spend today “just groaning a lot”.

 

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