Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am attempting to set the record for the "fastest half marathon in upper body chainmail" at the North Lincs Half Marathon. I will be running the 13.1 mile course wearing steel chainmail from my knees up, including gloves and a hood. I'm also wearing a steel helmet and carrying an axe just for good measure. In total this weighs over 2 and a half stone (or roughly 27% of my body weight). To break the record I need to finish in less than 3 hours, but I'm hoping to beat 2hrs 30mins. I'm also running the City of Lincoln 10K in March in the chainmail as a warm up :P

This is the 2nd year I've been running in chainmail for charity, and as painful as it can be, and the fact I currently need regular physio to keep my body working, I have to admit that I love it. Its a difficult thing to explain (believe me, people pull some hilarious faces when I try, haha). Its an amazing feeling knowing that you are doing something that will make a difference to people and that you are having a positive impact on the world, the support I get from total strangers while I'm running in all 18kgs of the chainmail really reaffirms my faith in humanity, and we all need that sometimes.

I've decided to concentrate all my future fundraising for Mind, the mental health charity. Several members of my family have struggled with depression and I experienced it myself for the first time last year. I realized that I needed to do something to change things and this was part of my reason for starting charity fundraising by endurance running in chainmail, an idea I first had when I was a kid, but had never got around to doing. 

Running is something I've always loved, it always makes me feel better, and having a training plan and fundraising as something to focus my brain on and motivate me to get out of bed massively helped me control my depression last year. Now I feel like I'm back to my normal self, but I don't plan to stop chainmail running anytime soon.

That's why I've decided to run for Mind, and admitted my problems for the first time really. There is a real stigma about mental health, and many people don't want to admit they are struggling for fear of worrying those around them or not being believed or many other reasons, Mind provide support and advice to people who don't know where to turn, and I want to do everything I can to help them in that. 

 As with last year (and hopefully for many years to come if my body survives) my target is to raise at least £500, but I really hope I can smash that target, so dig deep everybody :) The longer I keep beating my targets, the more I'll keep pushing myself to do this, and the crazier the challenges will get... I've always wanted to do the London Marathon, why not in chainmail next year ;)