Once upon a time (Easter weekend), in a land far, far away (an Airbnb in Cornwall), two women drank too much tequila and decided to sign up for the Bath Half Marathon...

In October 2023, Fi and I are taking part in the Bath Half Marathon and running 13.1 miles to raise money for vulnerable cats and dogs. Every pound raised will go to Bath Cats and Dogs Home, who rescue, rehabilitate and rehome unwanted, abandoned and cruelly treated pets from Bath, Somerset and Wiltshire.

BCDH is a charity close to both of our hearts, as we have both adopted pets through them. Read on for their stories:

Joey's story:

My husband Jeff and I adopted our beloved tabby cat Joey from BCDH when we suddenly found ourselves spending a lot more time at home in 2020. He was very anxious at first, and it took a few months for us to gain his trust. It was so rewarding seeing his progress over time, and he became the best, most loving companion we could have wished for. Little things he did made us laugh every single day and we can't describe how much joy he brought into our lives. He truly made our house into a home.

Joey passed away in March of this year, leaving us both absolutely devastated. We found out he had a tumour in his intestine, and our vet attempted surgery to remove it, but was unable to.

Although we wish we could have spent longer than three years with him, we will cherish the memories we made in those three years forever. We are so very grateful to BCDH for bringing him into our lives, and I'm proud to be raising money for other vulnerable animals in his honour.

Alf's story:

Alf came into our lives a year after we had a really difficult experience with a different rescue centre, which resulted in us having to put our first rescue dog to sleep. We didn't know if we'd ever be ready to try again, but after seeing how happy Isie and Jeff were with getting Joey from BCDH, we decided to give them a go.

My partner Joe would check every week when new dogs were uploaded and when we saw Alf, a cocker spaniel puppy with lots of energy, we thought he might be perfect for us. We were eventually lucky enough to bring him home and have been through all of the emotions you can imagine, from "what have we done?!" when Alf was quite literally bouncing off the walls to now where we won't hear a bad word said about our little bundle of chaos.

BCDH gave us amazing support and resources when we struggled during the first few weeks and I'm so excited to be able to do something to give back to them so they can continue with their amazing work.

We hope the money we raise will help lots more pets to find their forever homes. Please sponsor us, if you can!