On Sunday 8th of October, 16,000 runners lined the streets of London for the Royal Parks half marathon. They were attempting to run the 13.1 miles that would take them through the four Royal Parks; Hyde Park, St James Park, Kensington Gardens and Green Park, passing famous London monuments, such as The houses of Parliament, Admiralty arch, Buckingham and Kensington Palace and the Royal Albert Hall.

Amongst the 16,000 runners, was my father, who was attempting to run his first half marathon in aid of Cancer research. This was a cause close to dads heart, having lost my Grandad to cancer earlier this year. It was a crisp, sunny morning as my sister, mother and I lined up among the thousands of people who had come to support friends and family as they embarked upon the challenge. The course was lined with runners of all different identities, some in fancy dress, ranging from Rhinos to Ketchup bottles, who were all running for different charitable causes, including GOSH, NSPCC, The British Heart Foundation, and many others.

My dad had trained in the months before, constantly improving on his distance and his speed, until the big day. As he waited for his wave to begin, the nervous tension began to rise up my body, as I wondered if he would be able to reach his end goal.

As we waved him off the start line, his smile was beaming.  We would see him again at the 6 mile mark, where we were ecstatic to see him still pushing his hardest, showing no signs of fatigue. We then saw him cross the 10 mile mark, where we could almost feel the strain in his legs, but could still see the steely determination etched across his face.

At the finish, we saw thousands of  runners cross the line in sheer exhilaration, including my dad as they had all overcome this mighty challenge. I watched on, amazed by this different side of the world, the one of unsung heroes of humanity.  Even though we live in times of war and conflict, I was truly humbled and touched by some of these amazing people with such determination to achieve great things for such wonderful causes, that left an incredible thought engraved into your heart.

My dad has received so much support from friends, family and colleagues, raising an almighty £2,700 for his worthy cause.