Those who run with me regularly know that I have never planned to run a race of more than 10 km, I hate running alone and I prefer a nice muddy off-roader to road running. A couple of months ago I heard that my work friends in Witney were planning to run the Oxford Half Marathon to help raise funds for the Twin Town Challenge 2020 and I thought, "I could do that!" 

So, with my good senses long gone, I have embarked upon my training for this event, running twice a week, on my own and on the roads, and gradually building up my distances on a third run at the weekend with my lovely running buddies.

Access to technology is something most of us take for granted and it is such a huge part of our daily lives. This is something that disabled people find very limiting. Special Effect help those people to enjoy life through technology, specialising in helping physically disabled people play video games. The organisation works with developers to create specialised game control devices as well as make their games more accessible. Take a look here to see the many wonderful people SpecialEffect have helped; tissues at the ready!

There are many inspiring videos and stories showing the incredible work they do, such as this lovely moment last month when the team went to see Finlay in Scotland and update his gaming set-up.

I'm excited to be in training for the Oxford Half Marathon 2019, running for SpecialEffect as part of the Whitley Stimpson team in Witney and to sharing the experience with those a little closer to home!