So my story begins back in April when my lovely pair of older brothers entered me in the UK’s hardest marathon (https://glencoemarathon.co.uk/) as a ‘gift’ for my 30^th birthday.. Hmmm interesting take on the concept of a ‘gift’?!

As a seasoned 5k park jogger, a 26-mile fell run over some of Scotland’s biggest mountains seems a little intimidating! But after a longer than ideal period of procrastination I am now fully stuck in to the training. So far the furthest I’ve been is a 16 miler over Kinder Scout (in a thunderstorm) so hopefully I’m just about on track?! The training has been pretty tough so far and my body is definitely complaining! The other thing I’m struggling with is finding the time to fit in the training (at my extremely slow pace)! Turns out running on mountains takes a lot longer than on city roads..!

So, it seemed to me that the only way to make this ridiculous and extremely time-consuming challenge worthwhile was to raise money for an amazing charity which also turns 30 this year. MASH is an incredible organisation which supports women who are sex working on the streets of Manchester with everything from surviving male violence, to finding a home and to support with their mental health and past trauma.

Thank you in advance for your donations and support! Just praying for dry weather now..

A bit more about MASH and this challenge

2021 marks 30 years since a group of volunteers first got together to support sex workers in Manchester by handing out hot drinks and condoms during the height of the HIV and Aids pandemic. MASH was born. MASH may look very different now, but our heart and purpose has never changed. We are here to stand with and support women who are sex working so that they can experience better health, safety and wellbeing