12 years ago I was at the peak of my physical fitness, playing Rugby for Folkestone RFU and running in the athletics team for my school The Harvey Grammar. A week before my 17th birthday I suffered an extremely bad knee injury that sidelined me for almost a year, and when I came back I couldn't play the way I wanted to, and continued to suffer difficulties playing.

I was forced to stop playing, and as I wallowed in self pity I also gave up any form of exercise, gradually putting on more and more weight. This escalated until in January 2012 I weighed the heaviest I ever had - almost 20 stone. I was unhappy, and decided things had to change, especially since my son Ethan was born in November 2011 - I wanted to be a Dad who ran around with him in the park, and more importantly, be alive to see him grow up.

So I started to lose weight and train again. I've had my ups and downs since, but now, March 2013, I weigh a shade over 16 stone. The ultimate goal is 12 stone, and I'm working hard to achieve that. However, my competitive nature requires that I do more than just run on a treadmill, so part of my journey is to start testing myself with a series of running competitions and triathlons.

This is the first competitive run I'm doing with more to follow during the year. As well as this being a personal goal, I want to support important charities doing amazing work locally and nationally. The first charity I'm supporting is The Rainbow Centre in Folkestone who help those in need, provide the homeless with care and assistance, and work on developing our next generation.

So please support their worthy cause by supporting me. And here comes the instruction bit...

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

THANK YOU!!!

Nick xx