#1 42,195m

I'm a cynical bugger.

Over-niceness, patronising praise and often simply the presence of the general public annoy me no end.

If people don't have their oyster card ready before reaching the barrier, walk side by side on a busy pavement or decide to take touristy photographs in a public place the red mist descends and this is shortly followed by some of the most extreme passive-aggressive sighing that would ever be deemed acceptable within a polite British society.

Last Sunday, however, people were awesome.

There were kids wearing foam hands to protect themselves as they high-fived as many of the 10,000 passers by as possible; there were people in their early 20s taking a break from their Sunday morning hangover to hand out jelly babies at the side of the road; there were signs ranging from "worst parade ever!" to "you've got stamina - call me"; and there were slutty cheerleaders outside the Brighton Hilton.

All of this - along with some excellent support from family - got me through challenge #1 - Run a Marathon in a time of 3 hours, 54 minutes and 46 seconds - well under the 4 hour (at many points seemingly unachievable) goal I had set myself.

Proof

That's not the only personal goal that I achieved that day. I'm pretty sure I smashed my all-time calories consumed in a day record with bananas, flap-jacks and bagels before; high calorie gel and Gatorade during; and Guinness, a super-sized Burger King and a large Dominoes (with stuffed crust) after.

More importantly, I achieved my goal of making my mum cry - thanks to the surprise fundraising effort I undertook to help provide an iPad to support her Stroke group (BASH) where she helps stroke victims to re-learn to communicate. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.

What you may have also noticed from the photo is that I may in fact be the first ever marathon runner to actually gain weight in the build up to a marathon. Whilst this was absolutely not a goal, it is certainly some achievement.

What this does do as well is pose is a further challenge - particularly for #3 - Get a six pack / get properly tonk. The foolproof plan of:

• Bulk up with muscle until the end of December 
• Cut during marathon training, whilst maintaining muscle
• Achieve six-pack and bronzed Adonis physique

Now looks more like:

• Bulk up to Xmas - check, 12.5 stone to 14 stone, mostly fat, some muscle
• Cut to marathon - fail, still at over 13.5
• Maintain muscle - fail, practically no upper body weights done this 
• Achieve slightly podgy, pasty physique with awesome calf muscles - check

Now to work out a new plan for #3 before December...