Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I had been thinking about my own feelings towards the present lockdown situation, how hard it is to be a teacher at work and at home, a parent and a husband with everything that is going on at the moment. With all the anxiety and fear. What if I bring it home from work? What if I infect someone? What if I get ill? Some of you may feel similar. The question for me was how do I protect my family and friends to the best of my ability but not panic them...

...And then I wondered what all this would be like if I suffered from mental health difficulties too.

Mind have launched a national appeal due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our mental health. I have chosen Solent Mind not only because they provide services locally to support people in Hampshire but to signpost everyone to the services they provide.

Mind say:

“We believe no one should have to face a mental health problem alone.
Your support means we can reach more people, answer more calls, provide more information, advice and guidance, and carry on speaking out for everyone affected by mental health problems.”

Any one of us could suffer from Mental Health Difficulties during our lives.

I wanted to set myself a mentally challenging task as I thought this would be appropriate. If you know me, then you will know that this is not the first time I have set myself an endurance challenge in a short time span that I am not fully mentally or physically prepared for. To put this into perspective; I have run a marathon on two occasions in the past but I have never run an ultramarathon. The furthest I have run over the last year is 21km and on Saturday I will be attempting to run 50km (31 miles). I will be going out for my daily exercise for an hour in the evening and then again after midnight to keep to social distancing protocols and to break up the monotony!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your .details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.