The London Marathon was a wonderful experience—lots of
inspiring people, a great course, and an unbelievable number of enthusiastic
spectators!
Todd and I arrived Thursday morning—this was our first trip
together without children in 22 years!However, as soon as we arrived we immediately went our separate ways :)Todd traveled on to Oxford to give a research
talk, while I headed to our hotel in London.That afternoon I hit the Expo.
The next day was spent adjusting to the new time zone.I did go for a short shakeout run around St
James’s Park, which was close to our hotel.
View of Buckingham Palace from the bridge in St James's Park
Pre-race gear shot!
I found the most enjoyable part of the event was getting to know
my teammates. Ten of us ran for the Children’s
Tumor Foundation. We had met over Zoom
many times in the lead up to the marathon, but it was particularly special to
meet them all in person.
Happy Hour Friday night
Leanna and Kara
L to R: Kara, me, Leanna, Lydia (our captain), Eddie, and Anne-Marie
Eddie and his Dad
Brunch the morning before the race
Our team included:
Leanna Scaglione, the 2025
Children’s Tumor Foundation Ambassador (https://www.ctf.org/news/meet-our-2025-nf-ambassador-leanna-scaglione/).She and I have run the NYC Half together
several times.She lives with
NF2-related schwannomatosis herself, diagnosed as a teenager.She has had multiple surgeries for NF,
including brain surgery to remove a vestibular schwannoma and insert a cochlear
implant two months before running the 2024 NYC Half!
Eddie Purtell, the 2022 Children’s Tumor Foundation
Ambassador (https://www.ctf.org/news/meet-our-2022-nf-ambassador-eddie-purtell/)!Eddie lives with NF1 himself,
diagnosed at birth, and had his left eye removed
at age three due to an optic nerve glioma.He has previously run the Chicago Marathon for CTF.
Michael, whose teenaged daughter has NF1.Michael runs ultras, so the marathon was no
sweat for him :)
Kara, a geneticist and NF researcher at NYU!
I also got to meet Anne-Marie, an NF Mom from the UK.Anne-Marie has three children, the youngest
of whom—her 15 year old son—has NF.She
was running the London marathon for the Childhood Tumour Trust—the UK version
of the Children’s Tumor Foundation.I
had served on the Medical Board of the Childhood Tumour Trust for several years
and still followed their activities, so I reached out to her when I learned she
would be running.She gamely joined the
CTF team for Happy Hour!
Finally, I met in-person another friend from the Childhood Tumour
Trust—the actress and NF Mom, Rakie Ayola!Rakie and her family were waiting at mile 4 on the race course handing out
treats to the runners during the marathon. Watch her Instagram reel!
The marathon route had some of the best sight-seeing I’ve
experienced on a race course. Most of it
ran along the River Thames. We started
in Blackheath in Southeast London, ran through Greenwich and past its famous
clipper ship, the Cutty Sark. We ran
west through South London, past the Shard—the tallest building in the UK—and the
Old London City Hall in Southwark, until mile 12 where we crossed the river over
the Tower Bridge! We ran by the Tower of
London, then turned east again to the Isle of Dogs. We ran through Canary Wharf and past Canada
One Square. Then we turned west again through
North London, past St Paul’s Cathedral, through Victoria Embankment where we
could see the London Eye across the Thames.
Finally, we reached Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and turned
toward St James’s Park. We crossed the
finish line on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace!
Me crossing the Tower Bridge!
Me running through Westminster...
and passing Buckingham Palace!
The 2025 London Marathon was the largest ever: I was one of 56,640 finishers in
the 2025 TCS London Marathon. This
was a new Guinness World Record title for the largest number of finishers
in a marathon, overtaking the record we set at the 2024 Berlin Marathon :) And there was a record number of
spectators, too! An estimated 800,000 people
came out to cheer us on. Todd snapped some photos of the crowds along the course in Westminster:
Spectators along Birdcage Walk near mile 25
Spectators by the Houses of Parliament
and by the Millenium Bridge
Todd was waiting for me at mile 25!
Todd's view of the crowd while trying to reunite with me
The crowd on Horse Guards Parade
As brilliant as the race was, it was hot (70 degrees!) and I
was slow, so I can’t deny I was relieved when it was over :)
We encountered my teammate Michael as I was limping back to the hotel
The most important thing about the 2025 London Marathon is that Jane and I raised almost
$15,000
for the Children's Tumor Foundation!
THANK YOU to all our generous donors for helping us one step closer to a cure for NF <3
Jane Update:
Jane has committed to college! Meet a member of the Dickinson College Class
of 2029! We are so proud of her and
excited for her to take this next step.
