I've made no secret of my running journey over the last 16 months, talking to anyone in ear shot with a general interest (or anyone for that matter) or plastering it over various social media accounts.

Everywhere was locked-down and I had nothing else to do so I thought I'd give a 5km run a go. I think I got to about 0.25km before having to stop, feeling sick and faint. I pushed on and kept getting out day after day until I started to see improvement. It came quicker than anticipated, a lot of the runs where difficult but the feeling afterwards was brilliant.

I'd gone from barely being able to get round a loop of the park to running 10ks most evenings. As the distance started to ramp up everything else dropped, the weight dropped, the time it took to do most runs dropped. I'd lost 4 stone (5 stone if you go back to 2017).

I've found myself doing ridiculous things; running 20 miles on Saturday mornings, getting faster over 5km, 10km and 21km and I ran 100km in a day at one point.

However, my affiliation with ManWell outdates my running by quite a way. I knew I needed to lose some weight but had absolutely no confidence in doing any form of physical exercises. That's when I managed to get in touch with the lads at Manwell who encouraged me to step out and get on the pitch to play some footy with a group of likeminded individuals.

I became much more confident through this and definitely wouldn't have found myself in the position I am in without it.

It's really important what this group does for individuals in our city, immeasurable in many ways. That's why I am over the moon to be throwing myself round the 26.2 mile course in their name.

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.

https://www.manwell.org.uk/

#NoManLeftBehind