Paul Gorman: My marathon effort

Capital One senior security consultant Paul Gorman, 37, from West Bridgford (pictured far right in group) was running for cerebral palsy charity Scope.

The only way you could describe the day itself is amazing.

There is a fantastic camaraderie between the runners. It was pretty emotional at times - particularly at the end when you are fighting back the tears because the atmosphere is so charged.

There were a lot of people running with pictures of relatives who have passed away which makes you very humble.

I can't speak highly enough of the crowd. You hear people talking about the London Marathon crowd but you don't realise how great they are until you are actually there.

You get to a stage were you feel like you can't go any further but then you hear a band playing or hear someone shouting your name.

I managed to run constantly up to about 16 miles - from there I started to slow down and do a run/walk strategy to make sure I got round.

By 20 miles it was agony and the last six miles were heavy on the legs. When I got to 24 miles it really kicked in, but I knew that even if my legs gave in I would be able to do the last two miles.

When I got the Mall and saw the finishing line it didn't hurt so much any more. I saw a guy who I had spoken to on the starting line and I gave him a hug.

After the race I am aching from the balls of my feet to my calves and up to my shoulders, everything is stiff. I slept well but every time I turned over I felt some pain.

I was running for cerebral palsy charity Scope - one of the things that kept me going is not letting these people down. It was fantastic and perhaps the best part of the day was thinking about what I had done for those people.

My other half has asked me if I will do it again - it is a massive commitment but the day itself makes it worthwhile. At the moment I haven't got any plans to do it next year but if you ask me in a month I may have changed my mind.