It's all over, the big day has come and gone and what an amazing day it was.

The weather was amazing the crowds were just fantastic giving us all heaps of encouragement. The organisers and the marshalls looked after us all so well keeping us hydrated with plenty of water and Powerade, and in some cases handing out vaseline to those who needed it.

I can now proudly say that I have experienced my first marathon and I have had a stark realisation that no matter how physically fit you are and however much training you have done, you just never quite know what you are going to experience on the day.

I have realised that it goes completely beyond the physical element and it is truly your individual mental strength that gets you to the finish line.

I had a bad stitch in my right rib all the way along Grand Avenue through to Church Road. I couldn't breathe properly as it hurt so much. I had this for best part of 20 minutes and was beginning to worry that I was going to have to stop.

It eventually subsided to my relief and I was fine again until I got down to Shoreham Power Station. I hit my wall and struggled with this almost the rest of the way to the finish.

I ran the whole race with my running partner Marianne and we were a rock for each other. When one of us looked as though we were losing spirit the other one stepped in.

I lost count of the amount of runners that just stopped in front of us causing us to almost stumble a few times. I put this down to disorientation as by this time people were pretty exhausted. As I saw people stop and walk I tapped them lightly and encouraged them to keep going, everyone was hurting together at this stage.

The last mile seemed never-ending, Marianne had developed some super energy boost taking her a few yards ahead of me, and I was happy to let her go as she needed to finish in her own time.

I knew giving up was just not an option so I used the last mental tool I had left I focused on my late father and asked him to push me through to the finish.

I got there in 4 hours 23 minutes. I collected my rather spectacular medal, my finisher t-shirt and a bottle of water. I found Marianne and gave her a big sweaty hug, grabbed a couple of bananas from a marshall then I collapsed on the grass in a euphoric and exhausted heap.

Brighton needs this day it is such a special event and all of the crowds whether they were local or visitors made it great, thank you all for your support and encouragement.