*UPDATE*

July 23rd

As many of you know, I damaged my foot (5th metatarsal to be specific) just under a month ago and have not been able to train since. I've had two x-rays and although there are no breaks, I've been told that the bruising means I'm not going to be able to do any kind of impact training for at least another 2-3 weeks.

As a result, I've been advised that trying to run the marathon this year is going to cause more damage. I've been putting off making this public as I'm devastated about it, not due to the fact I've been training hard but because so many people have donated to my cause.

However, I have spoken to the marathon organisers and they have assured me that I can run in 2018, which I WILL do. I refuse to let anyone down.

This is just a hurdle...unfortunately for me though, I can't jump it at the moment.

M x

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I had no intention of running this marathon for charity. I've paid for my place and I'm up to 17km in my training with four months to go; there's a few niggles in the knees and hips but I'm 35 now so it's to be expected.

Last week, my wife posted a non-violent, educated feminist opinion on Facebook, with some links to additional reading that supported this opinion. Unfortunately her post was picked up by a couple of hostile groups on Facebook and subsequently the national press. Within minutes she was receiving abusive messages. 

The story got picked up by more and more news outlets, both national and regional. And the abuse continued to the degree that her Facebook Messenger inbox crashed.

We stopped counting after the 500th message calling for her to be raped and murdered, and saying our 5 and 2 year old kids should be taken into care or kill themselves.

I received plenty of messages - nowhere near the same scale as she did - and it was hard to stomach some of the comments being made about my wife and children.

The most terrifying thing about all of this is that we are grown adults in our 30s and I know the effect this has had on us. I cannot even begin to imagine what it would feel like to be a vulnerable teenager and experience this kind of spiteful and unsolicited hate.

Most of us have had some kind of rough time in the teenage years but back then, you could close the door when you got home and you had sanctuary. Now, with technology advancing as far as it has, it is impossible to hide. 

Ditch the Label is an anti-bullying charity that works in innovative ways to help promote equality and teach young people how to cope with how they feel and fit in to the world. They're fundamentally an online charity and as a result, work internationally.

I'm not perfect. I was an a*sehole to a guy at school, with whom I am now friends on social media, and I hate to think that my unkind words would have ever played on his mind. My wife had a close transgender friend who, after being relentlessly bullied at work, decided the only option was to take her own life. 

If I can raise a few quid for a charity that can genuinely save lives then I'll consider the entire experience worthwhile.

Thanks for reading x