Running and Rowing for Mental Health Awareness!

Hi,

I'm Jay.

I have been training for the Sheffield Half Marathon which takes place on 26th March 2023 to raise money for the mental health charity 'MIND'.

Unfortunately, through training, I have developed quite a serious injury to my Achilles tendon and I have reluctantly had to stop running to avoid further damage. Neither physio, stretching, strengthening or a gait analysis and a ridiculously expensive pair of new running shoes have helped. I have tried to run through it, but I can no longer justify any further injury.

I can only apologise to the people who have donated based on me running the Sheffield Half. However, I have opted in for a new and even more difficult lower-impact challenge - I will now be attempting to row 200km by the end of March 2023, and on top of this my dear friend Hannah Ford has opted to be my substitute for the Half Marathon. I will be uploading every row I do (indoors) and keeping an online tally until the end of March!!

This has now become a rowing and running super duo activity, and I hope that people will still donate to the cause, both for me and my amazing super friend Hannah!

Please see link to the MIND website below:

https://www.mind.org.uk/

I, amongst many others, have struggled significantly with mental health problems over the years. Whilst awareness of mental health is becoming more established, it is still very much a taboo subject. Simply talking about our problems and the trauma that we have all been through is a particularly difficult task to do, but I believe we all need to do it at some point.

I have personally struggled, be that through childhood trauma, grief, stress, anxiety, moments of depression, and generally keeping my head above water with my 'rabbit in headlights, 20 TV's on at once, oh, look, there's a squirrel' ADHD brain. We are all just trying to exist in a world that capitalises on fear and insecurity and it can be ruthless at times, particularly when we have all experienced trauma at some point in our lives, many of us of which we keep packed up in a box somewhere, growing ever more cumbersome.

I have been fortunate enough to have supportive family members, work colleagues and friends, and have been able to afford to engage with the most fantastic private therapist I could have ever asked for. I can pay testament to the personal transformation that happens from simply talking about trauma and just life stuff in general. Unfortunately, I am aware that many people don't have this luxury, which is where mental health charities such as MIND come into play, particularly where we have a government that is dead set on destroying NHS services.

I know several people who have utilised the services that MIND has to offer, and I am hoping that people will be able to relate to my story and the absolute necessity to keep such services running to improve the well-being of so many individuals.

I hope that you will donate, as this will fundamentally make such a huge difference. If this money saves one person's life or makes it easier for them to simply exist, then we've done an amazing thing.

The marathon training has unfortunately finished me off, however, I'm not giving up and will still push through with another ridiculous challenge. I cannot stress enough what the combination of exercise and talking therapy, and a bit of fresh air really does to soothe the MIND. 

Also, the President of this wonderful charity just so happens to be one of the most open, intelligent, funny and heart-warming individuals this world has ever produced. The one, the only, the man of the hour: Stephen Fry!! 

Our Stephen, the legend. 

Thanks for reading - and please donate.

Jay xx

:-)