On Sunday 2nd October 2022, I will be running the London Marathon for The Childrens Society! Running the London Marathon has been a life-long dream of mine and I am so proud to be finally running it for such an amazing cause.

About the Charity
The Childrens Society transforms the hopes and happiness of young people facing abuse, exploitation and neglect. We fight for hope by deeply understanding the needs of young people, supporting them through their most serious life challenges, and campaigning tirelessly for the big social changes that will improve the lives of those who need hope most. In the decade ahead, our focus and goal will be to overturn the damaging decline in wellbeing, ensuring this generation can have a happier, safer childhood. Thank you for all of your amazing support. Your fundraising makes a life changing difference. Mile by mile, together we can give children hope.

About Me
I'm Jordyn, I'm 22 years old and I recently took a big leap to move to London to start my career. I love to run, play football for Camden Town Ladies FC and I am a huge Huddersfield Town fan! All of these things help me feel human and manage my anxiety. Throughout my childhood, I massively battled with my mental health growing up. I was always quite shy and quite academic at school, which meant that I was an easy target for teasing, bullying and pressure from both myself and others. I found it really hard to get through it - I battled with my mental health constantly, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, prescribed antidepressants and also suffered from an eating disorder, all from the overwhelming pressure of growing up in an era where anything less than perfect wasn't good enough, and constantly comparing yourself to everyone around you on social media. One of the reasons I am running for this amazing charity is the work they do for childrens' wellbeing. Their 'Good Childhood Report' found some heartbreaking statistics:

- Around 306,000 10-15 year olds are unhappy at school.
- 1 in 7 girls are unhappy with how they look.
- 28% of children are unoptimistic or indifferent.

By supporting this charity, you help children like this to gain the support they need. You also help children who are subject to poverty, have run away from home, refugees and migrants, sexually exploited and abused. All children deserve the best start to life they can possibly get, let's give it to them.

Running
I have been running at an intermediate level for around five years and started becoming more competitive at the start of the first lockdown when nobody had anything else to do (remember that?!). I remember the feeling of running the '5k for Heroes' and beating my previous 5k time by 3 minutes, which gave me a runners high I became addicted to! Since then, I have completed 'Move for Mind' in January 2021 where I ran 100 miles in 21 days to raise money for mental health, a  10k in Regent's Park for Cancer Research (where I somehow finished first woman!), Reading Half Marathon (in a PB time of 1:36:08) and Paris Marathon (completing on April 3rd 2022)! On top of raising an amazing amount for a fantastic charity, I hope to complete the London Marathon in a sub-3:30 time, which would allow me to qualify for the world's oldest marathon in Boston!

Thank You!
Thank you for reading my story and donating. I feel so lucky and proud to be running the London Marathon for such a fantastic cause. The Childrens Society do such amazing work supporting vulnerable children and with your donations, they can continue with the invaluable support for children all across the country.

If you want to follow my marathon journey...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordynrunslondon/ 

If you want to learn more about the charity...
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/

The Good Childhood Report...
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/professionals/resources/good-childhood-report-2021