My Story

After my friend Lauren passed in 2012, I really wanted to do something big. 

Top of my bucket list was: Run the London marathon

It wasn’t quite that simple. 

I have had 11 failed attempts (and counting) at a ballot place, which is only becoming less likely each year as the number of applicants increases and I always thought that the £2k plus fundraising target was WAY more than I could manage. 

Then, the past year I really struggled with my own mental health. I quit drinking over a year ago because I was worried that mixing drinking, and the poor decision making and loss of inhibitions that comes with it, with poor mental health, was putting myself at massive risk . I came off Facebook. I stopped socialising. I stopped going out and doing things I enjoyed. I was still alive but I had basically stopped living. 

Then in October 23, I realised something drastically needed to change. I applied for counselling but was just put on a lengthy waiting list. I’m still on it. Then, in March 24, my friend Jessie got me in touch with someone from MIND. I had a call with them the next day and a session set up for less than a week later. 

I had weekly sessions with a wellbeing coach and she helped me put a plan in place to change my negative thought cycle and help me get better. She helped me find joy in life again. In the final session, we set a target to join a running club. This has been life changing. I signed up to Chester Marathon so that I had a target to work towards but also put in an application to run the London Marathon for Mind. 

It took 58 days of waiting to get an answer but finally my acceptance email to join the Mind team came through 🥳

I cannot put into words how excited I am that my dream is finally going to come true 💙💙

But I’ve done marathons before.. so for this one, I’m pledging to run it whilst singing karaoke 🎤 just to make it a little bit special and combine my love of singing and running. I am asking for a minimum of a £5 donation per request to add a song to my karaoke list. 

For someone who struggles with social anxiety, this will probably my biggest challenge ever, but will hopefully bring smiles to lots of peoples faces (or winces 🤣) so please sponsor me generously 🙏