UPDATE: I have been struggling with my knee recently so have decided to push the date of the challenge back to 22nd August. Thank you very much to the organisers for facilitating this.

On 22nd July this year I am attempting the National Three Peaks Challenge in aid of Mary Seacole House.

This vital mental health charity based in one of the poorest areas in Liverpool makes a real difference to the lives of largely underprivileged people who are experiencing mental distress. I know what excellent work they do from NHS family members and my own NHS colleagues who work closely with Mary Seacole House.

I have lived in or around Liverpool my whole life and it is a city I am very proud of; it is famously big-hearted with a strong community ethos of helping each other. I know any money I raise will make a difference to the lives of people who are already doing their best against heavy odds.

As many others have, I have experienced dips in my mental health, including deferring a year of university because of it; I cannot imagine what that time would have been like without the support I had around me.

If you don’t already know the Three Peaks Challenge, the aim is to climb the highest mountain in Scotland, England and Wales all in a single day. I will be walking 26 miles and and climbing 10,000 feet (think 10.2 Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other). There are only four hours to get up and down each peak (one of them being completed in the dark) and I will be attempting this on a left leg permanently weakened from birth due to talipes.

(The logistics aspects of the challenge are provided by a commercial group; none of the money raised will go towards their costs, which I am meeting myself).

In preparation I have joined a running group and have entered the Liverpool 10 miler on 26th March and the Chester half marathon on 21st May. I hope it will be enough. Whether you can manage to pop a few pounds into the pot or not - wish me luck!