Hi!

This October I will be running (or hobbling) my first ever half Marathon - 'The Oxford Half' www.virginsport.com/event/oxford-2017 in aid of Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary.

Before I started training for this marathon I had never run further than 5k before and didn't think I could because I have knee problems and i'm just not that good at running! However my colleagues at work had joined up for this half marathon and we thought it would be great to do it as a team and raise money for our favourite charities. With their help and support I started training and now I feel like I might just be able to make it to the finish line (I may need carrying some point).

I would really like to raise £500 so I can buy lots of useful things for the animals at the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary from their Amazon wish list. There is lots of different items on the wish list from food to toys, all of which are really important to the animals at the Sanctuary. The Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary take in and care for so many otherwise homeless animals & they always work hard to try and find loving forever homes for them all.

This Charity is very important to me simply due to my love of animals. I grew up on a farm and often took in unwanted/homeless animals and nursed them back to health if they needed it. At one point we had over 30 rescued pets including rabbits and birds.

I currently have 3 pets. One of the cats is a boy, his name is Indie named after Indiana Jones because he loves to swing off curtains. The other is a girl named shebee just like princess Sheba because like most cats she acts like she's royalty and I am her servant. Last but not least is my giant rescue bunny Mixie. I adopted her from pets at home, she needed special attention because she was very small and had stomach problems....she is now very large and eats everything in site.

People do refer to me as a crazy cat lady, or the cat whisperer. I love all animals but cats have a special place in my heart. Every time I go on holiday, no matter where I go I always find stray cats I have to feed...this is probably because I take cat food on holiday with me just incase! On a holiday to Egypt a few years ago whilst visiting the Cairo museum I came across a very large crowd of beautiful stray cats and kittens right outside the museum. unfortunately I didn't have my trusty bag of cat food with me but luckily lots of visitors had thrown away their hotel packed lunches, so I went through the bin and picked out all of the meat and cheese from the thrown away sandwiches, the cats loved it!

Please donate and tell me your animal related stories!