My Story

I never saw myself as a runner, until three years ago, when after having health issues I was told I needed to exercise more. Running seemed like the most accessible sport to get into, but like many others I had a fear of being last which was something I had held onto since those school sports days as a child. 

Since then I have grown to enjoy it and have done eight 10km races, two 10 Mile races and one half Marathon, as well as over a hundred parkruns, so I think I can say I have got over that school boy fear and now feel I'm ready to take on the big one and do a marathon this year

For this Marathon I will be fundraising for the charity I work for Emerge Advocacy. For those who don't know about Emerge, we are a Youth charity that supports young people between the ages of 10 and 25 years old that have ended up in hospital for mental health concerns, such as self harm, eating disorders and emotional crisis. Emerge has teams of Youth Support Workers (mainly made up of volunteers), that go into hospitals across Surrey, Kent and Berkshire, to give them someone to talk to during what can be a scary time.

Emerge also offers them some 1 to 1 support we call Follow up for up to 3 months, once they have left hospital. This is usually in a cafe, where we play games, do craft activities or look at ways to help them communicate how they are feeling.

To give you an ida of what your donation would go toward, here is a breakdown:

A £15 donation would cover drinks for 3 young people in follow ups sessions.

A £30 donation would cover phone/safeguarding support for the teams in hospital.

Thank you for your support.