Virtual London Marathon 2022

Thank you for visiting my GoFundMe page. As I assume you’ve chosen to, it’s because you are interested to find out why at 64, I’ve decided to run my first ever marathon and the two charities that I have selected.

The why is simple Why Not. As many people know, I started running during the first lockdown as a way to raise awareness of The Move For Wellness and to also raise money so we could support our aims. However, when I started to run, I was really happy if I could complete a 10K run, and the idea of running/walking 42 odd kilometres would have never crossed my mind.

But with all such things, as I ran, I found I could run further but not always faster, but speed wasn’t everything. Running further was a fantastic feeling, and last October, I entered the ballot for the 2022 London Marathon. In January, I ran my first ever official half Marathon, so I was hoping that I would be one of the lucky 47,000 who was offered a place.

Sadly, it was not to be and instead, I decided to enter The Virtual London Marathon.

For those unaware, this takes place on the same day as The Marathon

except the course I will run is in Hertfordshire & Barnet and not London. Having never run a marathon and running on my own, this is going to be a tough challenge.

Now to make this more interesting, October 2 is also my amazing wife’s birthday and she has decided that if I’m going to miss her birthday lunch and to support me on the day, I need to raise between £2,000 - £5,000 which will be split between the following two charities who support people for whom everyday can be a massive challenge.

So, who are the charities and why have I selected them?

The first charity is The MS Society: Unfortunately, my brother Martin developed MS in his early 20’s, ironically, he was a dedicated runner up until his diagnosis. I have seen how MS has affected Martin and how this condition continues to make his everyday life, as Martin says “interesting”. Now Martin could have chosen to wallow in self pity but instead he chose to live life the best way he can which includes being a recognised blogger on living with MS as well as being a published author. While there is no known link between MS and family members, both my mother’s sister

Gisela had MS and another cousin, Raymond also has MS. While there is no known cure for MS, the MS Society is doing some amazing work and every week are making breakthroughs in the understanding about MS. Obviously once you fully understand what triggers MS, hopefully it will lead to a way of preventing the body triggering MS. For more information, please visit https://www.,ssociety.org.uk

The second charity is Campaign Against Living Miserably: CALM is one of the leading charities that are working with people who feel hopeless and helpless. Currently 125 people a week take their own lives and CALM offer lifesaving services, provoking national conversation, and bringing people together to reject living miserably. CALM began in 1997 when it launched its life-saving helpline and became a charity in 2006 for more information about CALM please visit https://www.thecalmzone.net