Story
If you’re reading this you probably know I’m running the London Marathon, because - as someone who’s running the London Marathon - I can hardly shut up about it.
However, I wanted to use this moment of me going on about my marathon to talk about what I’m running this marathon for (other than the ego reason of getting to say I’m running the London Marathon, if I didn’t mention that)
Running the London Marathon has been a massive dream of mine, and last year I was lucky enough to get in on then ballet when over 1 million people signed up for it. I wanted to use this opportunity to raise money for something I believed in, and use the journey of bigging up my own ego to also big up a cause that meant a lot to my local community.
So I am raising money for a local community run project in the Kettering Area known as Johnny’s Happy Place! I will let them tell you their story below:
Johnny's Happy Place came about after the death of our beautiful friend, son and brother Johnny Mackay, in October 2014. We wanted to create something wonderful in Johnny's memory which we hope will be a lasting legacy to the most unique, warm, funny, talented and compassionate person. There are many people out there who, for one reason or another, through circumstance, are having a tough time. They might have anxiety issues, depression or just feel isolated. What we have done, with the help of some wonderful people, is created a beautiful community space/cafe within Keystone's building.
JHP provides a safe and welcoming hub to the people of Kettering. With free drinks and cheap food for everyone who walks through that door. They also run free counselling, creative writing, and art workshops.
Anyone who knows anything about Kettering will have heard of JHP, and how much it is a core pillar of the local community. Stepping inside you can feel the love and kindness that has gone into building the place. Everyone is greeted with a smile, laughter echoes from all corners of the cafe, and you can see how much this place means to people, whether they are stepping in for the first time, or the thirtieth time.
JHP was built to help support the mental health of people in the local community, and as someone who has struggled with mental health their whole life, using running to raise money for this cause means a lot.
As a little aside about why running means so much to me is that I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD and Autism until I was in my early twenties. This meant I spent a significant portion of my life wondering why I struggled so much with things that seemed to come so easily to others. I was getting overwhelmed in class and skipping school to avoid the sensory overload. I was falling behind in my learning, and was offered no support because my symptoms didn’t manifest in the way that ADHD and Autism was understood to manifest at the time. I was told by the school that I was lazy, and wasn’t trying hard enough, despite spending all of my free time working or studying. It didn’t feel fair that I was burning myself out to achieve only 10% of what my peers could do.
A lot of depression and anxiety followed, but one of the things that managed to both quiet the high energy brain of ADHD and regulate the Autistic overwhelm was running. I picked it up when I was 15, and while it has been on and off over the years, and hasn't been the panacea cure-all to my struggles, I’ve always returned to it to manage the symptoms, find peace in my day, and prove to myself I can do hard things.
So being able to run for a cause that provides support and safety for my community means the world to me.
You can learn more about Johnny's Happy Place here
Thank you so much!
