Above is a picture of me and my beautiful dog; Ben. We adopted him from Labrador Rescue North West when he was just over a year old. When we turned up he ran to greet us for the first time picking a flower on his way and bringing it to us in his mouth. We knew then, he was the one for us :)

Ben gave us years upon years of love, loyalty and laughter, he was more than "just a dog" he was the sunshine in every storm, he was my best friend, my baby, my everything. At the age of 11 we lost him suddenly to a serious internal bleed that we think was due to a cancerous tumour on his spleen bursting. We were all absolutely devastated and heartbroken when the vet told us it was time to put him to sleep. We are still heartbroken to this day, our house is no longer a home without him, our days are always a little less sunny without his waggy greetings and big snuggly cuddles. But we have to thank God we got the opportunity to love him and have him in our lives.

Labrador Rescue North West is a small local charity that takes in Labradors from all over the world with all different stories and backgrounds. They care for them, nurse them back to health where needed and find them forever homes to be loved as they deserve. I feel it important to recognise the work they do as if it wasn't for them we'd never have had the opportunity to meet and love our beautiful Ben. Smaller charities don't often get huge fundraising opportunities and I am passionate about being able to give something back to Glenys and Sam and the rest of the rescue for the amazing work they do.

Now about me... I am not a runner, in fact, I'm not even an "exerciser" if I'm completely honest! I go for the odd swim, I am not in great shape and I eat far too much rubbish! BUT, I am a very determined person and if anything will spur me on, it's this! Last year Ben and I watched Matt run the Wigan 10k the day before we lost him, hence my choice to run this year. Thank you xx

Here's to Ben 🐾