<p>The five of us are a collection of family and friends who, against our better judgement, have signed up to run the London 10k race in July 2012. To find out more about us, and keep up to date with out progress, see our <a href="http://therunningjokes.wordpress.com/">blog</a>.</p> <p>The five of us have decided to run the race in support of Samaritans &ndash; a confidential emotional support service, available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide. All five of us have, at some point, known someone who has considered, attempted or died by suicide; and have seen first hand how many lives are touched by it in one way or another.</p> <p>Samaritans provides completely confidential emotional support 24 hours a day by telephone, email, letter, and face-to-face through its branch network &ndash; support that includes outreach activity outside their centres in prisons, hospitals, schools, the workplace, at festivals and with homeless people. Find out more about Samaritans service on their website <a href="http://www.samaritans.org/">here</a>.</p> <p>Guildford Samaritans, our local branch, needs to raise around &pound;40,000 each year to run its listening services and fund outreach work in the local community. All donations here are very welcome, but it would be even better for Samaritans if you would consider setting up a small but regular direct debit donation instead, to help keep those running costs topped up &ndash; ask us to send you the forms.</p>