My first memories of running are from the days in St. Jean. My dad used to run every morning and I used to join him from time to time. He kindly ran along with me, but there would be a point where I would turn off to run back home and then he would start the serious part of his run. After university, I took up running a little more seriously when I made the decision to shed my "freshman 15" which, in my case, was more like "freshman 35". Over the years, I ran to maintain my weight and eventually running became part of my exercise routine. In Toronto, I joined a running group and started running 10K on a regular basis. That was a big hurdle for me. I never thought I'd be able to run that far or that long without stopping. But I did it. And then I moved away and I stopped running for  while. I did pick it up again, but it has been very on-again off-again. And sadly, at the moment, I'm in the off-again stage.

But now that I work for a sports for peace and development charity, I'm surrounded by people who run, bike and play football (even the girls!) so I've been inspired to run my first ever half marathon. I have 6 months to train and I'm hoping to do it in 2 hours 15 minutes. I'm also using this opportunity to fund-raise for the charity to which I'm proud to belong. I hope you can help me reach my goal and in the process learn a little about the charity. Right To Play uses sport and play programs to promote opportunities for development, teach life skills and health education and build stronger, more peaceful communities. The work we do ensures that children have access to regular, structured sport and play activities that help them develop self-esteem, a sense of belonging and become role models for other children. It costs about £25 for us to engage one child for one year in our programs; it doesn't take much to make huge difference.

You can find out more about the charity from our website www.righttoplay.org.uk or I'd be happy to talk to you about it myself.

Thank you for your encouragement (I'll need it!) and for supporting Right To Play!

Priti

P.S. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. You can simply use any credit card to make your donation. 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.