I am running this half marathon to raise money for Mind, a charity that I believe saves thousands of lives every single year; including mine. They provide vast support networks to let people know they are not alone. I am also running in memoriam of Stefan James Osgood, who sadly lost his battle with depression in March 2016.

PRE WARNING: This is an extremely personal story about why Mind is an important charity to me and how they have helped me in my journey. My experiences may influence how you feel about me so if you do not want to know a darker side to my life then please, feel free to read no further.

This is very difficult for me to type let alone talk about but I feel that by sharing my experiences it may help others that have found themselves in this situation.Mind promote openness about mental health and by sharing the things I have gone through, I have met some of my closest and most treasured friends.

I am a firm believer that talking about mental health is heavily stigmatized and by giving someone an open and honest account of a personal experience will not only help with awareness but also with compassion and understanding. 

Hello!

To those that know me, you know the struggles with Mental health I have had over the past few years. To those that don't, hello, I am Annie and I have mental health issues. 

It's not easy writing these things because I feel every time I open up, I show a little piece of myself that I wasn't sure if I was ready to reveal or not. It becomes incredibly easy to say to people 'I'm fine' when you're really not. You fight so hard to keep that illusion that it's difficult sometimes to admit you're not the 'happy' person everyone thinks you are. As time goes by though I know that not talking about your problems is far more damaging than talking about them.

I am not just doing this half marathon for me. I am doing it for them, for you, for everyone. A shocking 1 in 4 people experience some kind of mental health disorder at some point in their lives. Personally I believe this figure to be more realistic at 90% of people. Everyone goes through periods in their life where they feel they cannot cope. Money, relationships, work, health are all driving factors in many conditions. Mind has shown me so many wonderful coping methods to make my day to day feel like I am actually living. I've never been good at writing but I feel that this summarizes just how my journey has been these last few years; 'I guess it is kind of funny when you look at it from a step back, how one man can literally buckle under the same pressures other men operate normally under. I have scoped this out from all angles, multiple times. I have been over everything in my head 'till I can't think anymore. But I guess sometimes when you can't breathe there are people there to breathe for you. I am lucky enough to have those people around me. Thank you for helping me to not die'

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day.