As in most sports, marathon running has its grand slam events; those iconic races (outside of the Olympics) that attract the most prestige and attention, and also the most runners. Many amateur runners have the goal of completing one of these events (with the London marathon most popular to runners in the UK), whilst a dedicated few will attempt to run all of them (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York).
These six races make up the Abbott World Marathon Majors, and in 2016 I ran them all, becoming only the 5th Briton and 16th globally to complete them in the same year. This was the Timmyslam.
It was an amazing journey. From shedding a couple of tears as I stood at the start in Tokyo in February (“I’m in Japan and about to run a marathon”), to those final two miles through cheering crowds in Central Park in November, I experienced it all: over 35,000 miles travelled; illness and injury (including a nasty blister in Chicago); memories of some fantastic cities; more t-shirts, jackets and memorabilia than I know what to do with; a fantastic medal collection; and plenty of tears, laughter, pain, joy and ice-cream.
It was the Timmyslam that inspired me to start writing about my running experiences. You can read more about my six world major marathons here.