Meet our London Marathon runners Lou and Tim

Tuesday April 10, 2018

The London Marathon is only a few weeks away and Contact has 11 amazing runners who have been training and fundraising with all their might to represent us at this year's event.

On 22nd April they will be making a huge difference to help Contact continue providing advice, information and support to thousands of families with disabled children in the UK.

Today, we'd like to introduce you to soon-to-be-married couple Lou and Tim who joined our marathon team after hearing about it from one of our previous runners.

Tell us a little bit about yourselves

Hi! We're Lou and Tim, we live in Nottinghamshire and after almost 16 years together we're finally getting married this year! We're both photographers and I (Lou) also work as a teaching assistant in a primary school.

Why did you decide to support Contact by taking part in the London Marathon?

A good friend of ours has now run the London Marathon twice and we've always been so impressed by his achievements! We've attended all of his fundraising events, which have been brilliant fun, where we were introduced to the work of the charity Contact.

We were very touched by what they do and thought they were an incredible cause. So we asked our friend to put us in touch with Contact and before we knew it we had been accepted into the London Marathon!

We still feel so grateful that we've gained a place and have the opportunity to raise money for Contact!

What has been the biggest challenge in your marathon journey so far?

Probably reaching the longer distances, which neither of us dreamed we would ever reach.

We've never researched, talked and obsessed about running so much in our lives! It really does seem to take over your life and is hard to fit in around work etc. Your body also goes into quite a bit of shock and there are those days where even walking down the stairs or sitting down is a painful experience!

On the other hand, there's no feeling quite like it when you've completed a long distance and really feel that your fitness level is improving each time. As well as seeing the waistbands going down gradually (particularly with the wedding coming up!).

What are you most/least excited about?

We can't wait to be part of the atmosphere of the Marathon and see all the sites so close up! We also can't wait to experience the sense of achievement you must feel crossing the line (that's presuming we do!).

However, we are very nervous about it too and hope that after all this hard work, something doesn't happen or get in the way to us running to the end and getting past The Wall! We're trying our best to tick all the boxes and do what all the professionals say and pray that it all pays off!

Any hobbies outside running?

Photography is our job but also our passion and (other than running at the moment!) it fills up most of our time! We also love to travel and adore food (making it and eating it!) and particularly love combining the two!

If you'd like to support Lou and Tim, please visit their fundraising page and if you'd like to know how you can join our London Marathon team in 2019, please get in touch on 020 7608 8786.