Hello friend! As you may know, I'm doing to the Birmingham Triathlon on September 26th, 2020. Alana has suggested that I use the event as an opportunity to raise money for Acacia, and share some of the wonderful support they've given her since March.

It turns out, that being first-time parents to a (wonderful, amazing, adorable) newborn, during a pandemic, with a kid who has latching issues (tongue tie!), with our own parents not able to come and help (thanks, COVID-19!) while Alana experiences postnatal depression and anxiety is, as they say, a lot. 

Postnatal depression is incredibly common, affecting more than 1 in every 10 women within a year of giving birth. Acacia's services have been a huge help over the past 4 months, being a touchstone of normality and support for Alana in these challenging times.

So, as a "thank you" and to make sure that we can pass along the love and give this support to more people in the future, I need you to get your wallets out. Every little helps, so what I'd love you to do here is:

1. Donate what you can - as little as the price of a pint in London/ Temple Bar (£5/ $7/ €6) or as much as you can afford
2. Share this page in Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, Snapchat, Instagram, Bebo, WhatsApp wherever with a witty comment
3. Wrangle donations from your friends, family, enemies, estranged neighbours, strangers on the Tube, and that one person you always see in your neighbourhood who you always chat to, but whose name you've forgotten
4. Forget that you've donated, and donate again! 

You can, of course, follow my training progress on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/conorpendergrast), which is guided by my wonderful PT Peter.

I'm signed up for the sprint distance, which involves a 750m lake swim, 20km cycle and 5km run. It should be a total hoot!

A little disclaimer: I haven't had the best luck with events over the last year. Between a half-marathon cut short by 2 miles, the half-marathon I had to DNS because I was sick, the 10-mile race that was postponed because of a storm, or the two triathlons postponed to protect against COVID-19, I'm definitely ready for a challenge!

So even if the pandemic ruins another thing this year, I'll make sure to make you all proud, and do a safe, solo effort on the day.

If you've read this far, then I'm very impressed and also a little confused by WHY YOU HAVEN'T CLICKED THE DONATE BUTTON YET. Still, I appreciate your dedication to reading. As a special thank you, send me a message and you'll get an Exclusive, One of a Kind, Hand-Crafted Selfie from me (it might even include Cathal, if you're very lucky).