Hello again, I'm Phil and I've set myself another challenge - this years its  Bigger and Longer than anything previously attempted. I'm a non-typical runner (56 - yes I was around when the England Football team last won the World Cup!) and yes, I don’t get any younger and at 15 stone (95Kg for you youngsters) My Aerodynamic efficiency is not good! :) but this is my annual charity challenge to raise money for "Invest in ME" or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

My 20 year old daughter Zoe has this debilitating condition
(also known as CFS - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and this is my annual charity raising event. You may recall I ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London in October 2018, The Great North Run in September 2019 but this Year I'm going Longer & Bigger and will be attempting to complete the Manchester Marathon on April 3rd this year to raise money for this under funded charity.

ME is a horrible and poorly understood illness. 250,000 people in the UK have ME and Millions more worldwide and yet we don't know what
causes it and there is no cure or effective treatment. 25% are so severely affected that they are house or bed bound. We've heard a lot in the press recently about long covid and many of the symptoms seen are the same as ME/CFS so hopefully increase press coverage and government funding will improve the understanding and finding a cure for ME. 

Sadly my daughter is one of the 25%, her ME came from a flu
infection in February 2014 that has never gone away. 

Before Zoe got ill she was loving life, went to school, had dancing lessons, was a Scout and played the flute. She was normal, active and
life for this 12 year old was fun. When she got ill she had to give up all her hobbies and drop out of school - she was home schooled and managed to complete GCSEs and A-Levels with amazing results
and is now about to start a part time undergraduate degree with the Open University, this demonstrates her fabulous ability to focus on important aspects of her limited life.

Her symptoms include permanent exhaustion, struggles with
nausea, poor concentration and blood circulation issues. She uses a wheelchair because she is so weak and gets headaches that she describes as "her brain squeezing out of her eyeballs" She gets hot and cold flushes and gets regular bouts of dizziness.

Every day she has to plan future energy usage to avoid flare
ups but the symptoms are always there. She can't sleep it off and exercise makes it all worse. 

Raising money for M.E research has never been so crucial. Research suggests at least 2 million people in the UK have suffered from long covid (June 2021) and expectations are that unfortunately some if not many of the more long term cases may go on to develop M.E or other autoimmune illnesses as a result of virus damage. There is currently no effective treatment available. Please help me raise money to help the growing proportion of the population developing and suffering with M.E. 

Some of you may already know a little about the charity I'm fundraising for but for those of you who don't know here's a little about them: 

Invest in ME Research is an independent UK charity finding,
funding and facilitating a strategy of biomedical research into Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS).The charity is run by volunteers - patients or parents of children with ME - with no paid staff. Overheads are kept to a minimum and all funds raised go to promoting education of, and funding for biomedical research into, ME. Their efforts
are focused on setting up a UK Centre of Excellence for ME which will provide proper examinations, diagnosis and in time treatment(s)/cure(s).

Thank you for taking the time to visit my Just Giving page
and an enormous thank you to anyone who has/will donate as every little helps!

Phil & Zoe