“When I was a schoolboy I enjoyed running for my school, however too many years passed and I let running go.
In 2010 I found my love for running again but this time on a treadmill; with some music in my ear I would run for an hour each time.
In the same year I met a Karen, a brave and courageous person, who had lost her husband Phil to cancer and was being supported by The Hospice of St Francis. As time went by Karen and I grew closer and we eventually moved in together.
I decided to combine my rekindled love of running together with raising money for The Hospice of St Francis, so in 2012 I signed up for my first 10K and received my first running medal. By raising money for the Hospice at the same time it felt like a double win.
I had thought that 10k was enough of an achievement, but after running with a friend in the Herts 10K in 2013, it made me realise that a half marathon was possible. So In 2014 at the age of 43 I completed my first half marathon in 1:59 on a hot 29 degrees sunny day in St Albans and became a very proud man. I completed the St Albans half again in 2015 with a time of 1:47:16, beating my personal best.
With the help of my friend Dave I also found parkrun in 2014, and I have now completed 56 parkrun’s to date, setting new PBs along my journey.
That was enough… or so I thought. In 2016 I was inspired by the London Marathon but decided to let someone else decide if I should run a marathon so I entered the marathon ballot. In October, whilst opening my envelope I had a massive surprise to see that I had won a marathon place and in the London Marathon no less!
Now in April 2017 I've run five Herts 10K races, three St Albans half marathons, the Watford 10K, three Mud Pack Challenges, two Cambridge half marathons, all whilst raising money for The Hospice of St Francis.
If you love running don't let it go, set yourself a goal and run it! I’m so proud to say Karen is now my wife and we have a lovely daughter Jemima as a sister for Holly and Evie.”
If you would like to sponsor Paul as he takes on the London Marathon on Sunday 23rd April 2017, you can follow the link to the JustGiving page below.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Paul-Dennison9
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