Tanya Matthews
Tanya's Half Marathon and Full Marathon
Fundraising for Action Mental Health
Story
September 2017, I was very unfit and barely able to run 5km without taking multiple breaks. Flash forward to May 2018, I now enjoyed running and I was able to run 5km in a reasonable time, and even tackling 10km (big achievement for me).
Being the foolish person that I am I decided I was set a bigger target the Belfast City Half Marathon in September. I continued my training, motivated towards my goal and managed to complete my first half marathon in 2 hrs 3 minutes - and was really pleased as I would have been happy to finish my first in 2 hrs 30 minutes when I first signed up.
I received a promotional email form Belfast City Marathon about the new route in 2019...and accidentally / on purpose signed up - sure I'm half way there aren't I? What is a few hours of mental and physical pain - compared to the difficulties people face day in day out.
Why Action Mental Health? Because so many, if not all of us will encounter or have dealt with some type of mental health issue in our lifetime.
Just look at these statistics across Northern Ireland:
The report is based on a survey of almost 2,200 16-25-year-olds.
It found:
- 44% of young people in Northern Ireland say they have experienced a mental health problem.
- 68% revealed they always or often feel stressed.
- 60% said they always or often feel anxious.
- A quarter of our young people (25%) think they put too much pressure on themselves to achieve success.
- And 33% reported they always or often feel hopeless.
I would be lying if I said I haven't found myself in one of these categories above, and I'm sure anyone reading this will feel the same. By being open, and expressing to others that we're not okay whether it is asking for help or having a chat with a trusted friend you're taking a massive step.
Supporting Action Mental Health who provide invaluable services across Northern Ireland help so many people in our wee country is one step we can take to help those around us.
Have a look at some of the services they provide here:
https://www.amh.org.uk/services/
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
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