Back in February 2020 I signed up to do the Great North Run for Rethink Mental Illness. Some small bug got in the way and that didn’t happen, but my slot rolled over.

I gave the Virtual one a go walking because I thought “oh yes then I’ll have a baseline to beat, and won’t it be funny” - it ended up even funnier because the app wouldn’t log the distance I was travelling and I ended up chaotically circling the garden and heading into the fields near my house trying to get it to log. I have no idea how much I overshot the actual distance in that time but please enjoy the photo of my stellar placing.

I told myself I would take the extra year to get moving more and actually run the GNR when it came around in person; in an ideal world that would still be my goal but this year has been, ironically, awful on my mental health, and getting to the end of the academic year had to come first.

I have, however, been trying to move more and mix up my routine so am committing nonetheless to get to the end of the GNR with a new goal of beating the hilarious time I set back in September - just because I haven’t been mentally able to do my best, doesn’t mean Rethink should miss out.

They are a brilliant charity offering support to those affected by mental illness, providing information and advice, and also campaigning for improved mental health care too.

So thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, I can’t promise I’ll be fast but I can promise I’ll get to the end - and Rethink deserve support regardless, so please consider donating!

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.