Last year on July 12th 2022, I lost one of my best mates. Ali/Alex was a lot of peoples best friend, that was the kinda guy he was. He was loved so dearly in our friendship circle and with his quick wit there was always laughter. Ali never took himself too seriously and we pushed that to the limit when we were in Amsterdam on his stag do, where we dressed him in a child's Spurs kit and donned him with a pair of yellow clogs. He took everything in his stride and we all had the best weekend. This mentality was even more apparent when he was first diagnosed with a brain tumour 9 years ago, I never heard him moan or ask for any pity, he just focused on beating what was ahead of him. Once he was back on his feet he took up running, we shared a mutual love of it and would often talk about newest colour-ways from Nike. Ali's tumour came back in April '22, this version was extremely aggressive and we didn't get long to process what was happening, but he knew how much he was loved.

Since Ali's passing his family and friends have been raising money for The National Brain Appeal, TNBA supports The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery - known as Queen Square, who looked after Ali during his treatment. I wanted to help fundraise for further research, and support others going through treatment, so I thought I would challenge myself to 5 marathons this year. I have secured entry for 4 so far but I am waiting on entry to the New York marathon. If I get accepted I am planning to run it in Ali's running shoes as he loved the United States and especially NYC. 

Any support/donations will be hugely appreciated, I will keep you updated on my progress as the year goes on.

Thanks,

Josh 

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