The day that I run this Half will mark about a year and a week of living without dad. It has been, without question, the hardest year of my life. So to make it a bit harder, I thought I'd set myself the target of running the second half marathon of my life. Weirdly I ran the first one not long after losing my brother, Max, and I did that to raise money for the disability charity, Scope. It seems that I can push my body a little bit harder when I'm thinking about those people who I love the most. I remember how lucky I am to live so I may as well use my legs whilst I still can. It won't be particularly elegant, it won't be fast, it may be ugly - but most importantly, I hope it will raise a small sum of money for the British Heart Foundation - to help improve medication, treatment and support for those with heart problems. I run this for me, for my dad, for my mum and for my brother in the hope that the words stroke and heart attack may one day mean something less life shattering than they do now. 

I've had a lot of doubts about whether or not I can do this in a month's time. I signed up a while ago on a whim after watching one too many inspirational Instagram reels at 2am and since then I've struggled both physically and mentally to sometimes put one foot in front of the other. I also write this on about day 6 of some nice, snotty flu, swaddled in a blanket. However, I also write this as most people in the world are achieving significantly harder things with much less resources so who the hell am I?

Any donations would be so warmly appreciated and I thank you in advance for any love and support you can spare. 

Lily xxx