I’ve managed to wrangle a space in the 2025 London marathon.

As with most 30 year olds I picked up running to hope I could call myself young and fit still, however taking on this challenge was a little more specific.

If you'd like to skip the finer details of some personal traumas, I've made a little TL:DR.

Running a marathon. Mental health is important. Help me support the wonderful charity MIND.

Please feel free to message me about a friend, family member or yourself if you've struggled with mental health issues and I'll add their name to my shirt.

Now for the personal story Id like to share with you all.

Unfortunately during 2023, I suffered from significant mental health issues. Due to my own actions and not controlling my coping mechanisms, things became harder, and ultimately I pushed myself to the very edge. I put myself in a position to attempt to take my own life. Thankfully, due to being fortunate enough to have been in therapy, I was able to step back from the edge, something I am now extremely grateful for.

So i will be running this marathon for me, the goal setting and challenge mindset is perfect for me to always be looking forward to the future. This is a key part of my own recovery and mental health journey, which involves therapy, medication and a few tough conversations with trusted friends and family. Everyone will have their own needs for understanding themselves, my suggestion to all is, try.

This requires a fair bit of effort emotionally and even financially at times, but it is worth it. Charities like MIND are fantastic resources for information, people to talk to and general advice, take it even if you think you're stable, because one day you might not. And trust me when i say, in those dark times even if you're fortunate enough to have a wonderful support network like myself, you feel alone and you must rely on internal defenses.

MIND has specific poignance to myself, as it was a charity that my old team C.U.R.U.F.C supported while i was playing. During my time at Cambridge my mental health began to falter, and it was the men around me that helped me. We were a very open and honest team and that meant when I was struggling, they knew and were able to say “right what's going on?”. This would be extremely prudent when I fell back into a difficult place in coming years, and my rugby mates were some of the first I told of my difficulties.

However, at a similar time, one of the strongest of us, truly one of our bravest, couldn't see a way out. Nick Koster, a beautiful soul and brilliant man. Always lifted others, even at his own detriment, and mostly inherently kind.

So, I will be training for him, i will be fundraising for those like him and i'll be doing as he asked “look after yourself rosie ''. This will hopefully let a few people know that they're not taking on the wildebeest of life alone, there's help for even the hardest problems.

Kosie was my dear friend, and loving husband and a father to Jennie and the girls. His story will live on through them, and hopefully the stories we can tell about him. I personally believe we can let them live on through tales and laughs we so desperately wish we could share with them.

In this theme, I would also like to ask you for stories of loved ones you have lost, if you'd like you can tell me their name and I shall add it to my jersey that i run in. If you'd like them to slowly amble around London, I would be honored to take them with me. And if that means you can all share another story about them, then I will feel all the lighter plodding round.

As i said, 2023 was a tough year for me, I unfortunately lost 4 more friends through the year to the same battle. With permission from their friends and family, I will be adding their names to my jersey and hopefully we can share a story or two as I train, run and recover from this marathon.

If any of this helps just one person sign up for therapy, or reach out, or just think about their mental health internally, then it will have been worth the effort. Be kind to all, especially yourself.

Much Love

Henry x