Intro:

Hi, Thank you for taking the time to come to this page. I
know I have limited time before I lose your interest with the reading bit so I will address what I think it probably the first thing I would think if I saw a link asking for money from someone I don’t know for a charity.

I detail below how I got to where I’m at now and, for your information, I have never ran a marathon before.

Child abuse of so many different types has affected so many children, including me, for who knows how long and it has to stop. But it won’t.
For some reason people continue to physically abuse, sexually abuse, neglect, or in some other way hurt children.

I’m a dad first, a survivor second and a human being third
(I don’t know if that’s the best order. Husband is definitely one of those top 3 and I need to acknowledge that but by the same token that would throw me off track – which I’ve now done anyway – sorry about that)

These different types of abuses have increased in some cases
due to the pandemic and I’m sure there are all kind of “justifications” people may wish to use but that’s for someone else to look into because these children are suffering and they need help.

There are so many good causes to give to, and whether you know me or not, you don’t have to donate.

If you’re here though, please do read the below story of how
I got to here and hopefully if nothing else it will make you think in some positive way. And that would be a win for me.

Take care

Hi! I'm David and I'll be your guide in this Just Giving page. Thank you for coming here firstly. I hope you're having a good day / evening / week etc.

I am running the 2022 Edinburgh Marathon and am hoping to raise as much money as possible for the NSPCC. 

My Running Journey

I'm a recently turned 44 year old with the knees of a 60 year old, the eyes of a 70 year old, and the sense of humour of a 9 year old. (You break wind? I will laugh. Simple as). 

I first ran along with my son in a junior parkrun just to help him understand exercise was important. It's probably a good idea to point out I was about 20 stone at that point so he ended up helping me more than the other way around. (He was 4. It was very good for the self esteem. 

I done a few of these and quite enjoyed it so in November 2019 I thought I would try a parkrun. Whilst it nearly killed me (37 minutes of pure "fun") I have to admit the sense of community blew me away so I done a couple and in new year, 2020, and for the first time ever I set myself a new years resolution. I will run a parkrun in under 30 minutes.   

Armed with the Hamilton soundtrack, I started going to the gym and hitting the treadmill (figuratively and literally) and was actually getting somewhere! Then a tiny little worldwide pandemic became a "thing".

I kept up the running but it just didnt have the same oomph so I done what any sane person would do. I signed up for a 10K virtual run. But that wasnt quite enough pressure. So I also signed up to donate to Mind. And I had about 6 weeks to train up. Hurrah. 

And I did train. And when the day arrived I had actually raised money! I couldnt believe people were kind enough to help raise this money for a charity which does so much for people, like me, who were hit with depression, anxiety and the ever hanging cloud of imminent human destruction (I was big on reading the news at that point).

I set my Apple watch and set off. And it was tough. I had my music, my family sat on our door step so when I done my first lap they were there cheering me on. I was almost there! I had 1 km to go so I checked my watch to see the km's ticked off and see how close I was to the end. The watch had ended the workout 2 km's ago and wouldn't record the proof I needed to send to submit the money. 

I sat down and almost wept. I could not believe what had happened and I must have looked a sight because a lovely woman and her mother pulled their car up to me to ask if I was alright. I couldn't even speak at first. We had a little chat and when I had proved that I wasnt having a heart attack they set off. I knew I would have to do the run another day and it really was so tough I didn't know if I could. 

So I restarted the workout, and set off again. I dragged my sorry bottom around another 10K and got my precious proof. (I didnt know at the time that this was nearly a half marathon until one of my friends pointed it out.) 

I have to admit I was more thrilled I had raised money than feeling proud of myself but it was lovely to have the level of support and positive comments that came from it. 

Sorry, I'm rambling here. I'll speed up. 

I'm running the marathon. (just kidding). 

I wanted to see if I could do an actual 10K event so entered the Vitality 10,000 and couldnt believe how supportive my wife and son were through the whole thing. 

For some reason, around this time I managed to break the 5K in under half an hour and I will never forget the cheers from my wife and son. I could have cried. In fact I might have. 

So we done the event and I loved it. Such a positive atmosphere, people helping each other and chatting. Not me though, not because I'm a horrible mean person, but I'm chronically shy, socially awkward and that's when I have enough breath to talk. When running and particularly out of breath I more just kind of, i dunno, make noises.

Think of a duck honking but underwater. That's me. 

I remember Laura saying to me "what next then?". I hope she wasn't being sarcastic cos I had an answer for her. Surrey Half Marathon. 

At this time I wasn't very well and was on anti depressants which killed my emotions a bit.

I trained what I thought was quite hard, and again with the support of my wife and son managed to get to the event, (my first experience of trying to get into a venue whilst trying to navigate road closures! - fun)

I honestly don't remember much about the start line but remember feeling really good at mile 6. I remember seeing the sign for mile 8 and I remember my legs just refusing to do any more running. I've never felt exhaustion like it and every part of me truly wanted to give up all the way up to mile 10. Then the crowds. I couldn't believe the support of the crowds and I done it. I actually ran a half marathon. And remember sitting there on a kerb, feeling like I wanted to cry, but couldn't do it. I blame the anti depressants and it was a horrible feeling.

Friends, family, everyone was so kind but all I could think was that I wasn't being allowed to feel the feelings that other people were feeling. That runners high I hear about. 

So I came off of the anti depressants and have managed to stay off them (hurrah) and managed to run a few events since - Great South Run (my favourite until recently) and the Twilight challenge - a run around a closed airport runway which my wife and son done as well which was a real thrill. 

This next bit might surprise you but it's only an opinion. Covid sucked. Lockdowns sucked. 

I'm a Scot living in England and in March 2020 I lost my oldest friend. I couldn't get to Scotland for any service, I couldn't pay respects, I was completely cut off from that so I had decided I would go back and try to do an event in Scotland as well as taking in Edinburgh to pay respects. 

I was also inspired by some people who I knew who ran the London Marathon and last October I thought "I want to do that, but there's no way I could". I made the mistake of saying this to these people who argued with me, and got me thinking well maybe I could (thanks for that!)

So I entered the London Marathon ballot. With the total expectation that I would never get in so it wouldn't be an issue and I wouldn't have to do it. 

But it germinated in my head and within a couple of weeks my thought process was I will do it. I will do London Marathon and raise money for a cause I really care about. 

A couple of weeks after that Edinburgh marathon came to my attention and the route goes past the area I wanted to go to so I paid to enter it. My thoughts. I won't keep asking for money from lovely people who may one day read my Just Giving page (that's you - assuming you're still reading) but I will do the emotional marathon in my home city as a challenge, physical and emotional, and then fundraise the s**t out of London. 

So I trained. and trained. And obviously I hurt myself to the point I couldn't walk on my left knee. This was October and it was miserable. 

I ended up going to physio but was getting nowhere. So I went to another physio (who was young enough to be my grandson) who was an absolute genius and got me on the road to recovery 

I managed my first run on christmas eve, a 2K with my son, and then a 7K with my sister in law, both painful and exhilarating.

So I picked up my training again for a half marathon on 6th March 2022, one week before my 44th birthday and, you've guessed it, got covid in the second half of February 2022. Which, I'll be honest, I didn't love (but I was incredibly lucky not to have been more ill)

4 days after my isolation ended I ran the half marathon again. No medication. A personal best. But more importantly, my wife had a trolley to traipse all the stuff we need around. So she wasn't having to put up with lugging bags around. (you think I'm joking, this was a godsend). 

I was terrified of hitting that same wall but it didn't happen. I got to the last bend and thought I would try to give it a push but I didn't have much left - and then I seen my wife cheering, and my son ran over, took my hand and ran me across the line. 

That was the easiest running I've ever done. 

So here I am. 14th March 2022. The ballot comes out for the London Marathon 2022. And I'm not picked. But you know that cos you have got this far.

So, with 11 weeks to go, I change to fundraising for the physically and emotionally challenging home city one. 

And I ask for your help.   

The Why. 

Child abuse takes different forms, not just the snatched child in the shopping centre that media pick up on. 

I've had the misfortune to have experience of some types myself and have had many friends who I know have also suffered. 

I'm betting I also have friends who I do not know have also suffered. 

Sometimes the abuser is friends and family and some children have literally nowhere to turn to which can then lead to the loss of not only their innocence, but other parts of them that, without help, they will never be able to heal from. No, let me change that. We will never be able to heal from. 

Am I stopping the problem by running a marathon? No, of course I'm not. But even if I raise enough to support one call handler who offers help to one child that helps them for the rest of their life, putting up with doing some miles on one day is worth it. 

Whether you have read the above or not, if you've got to the bottom of this I profoundly thank you.

If you can find it in yourself to donate just a little, I would be more appreciative that you'll ever realise and I will work my hardest to cross that line. 

If there's any doubt by the way, I will cross that line. but hopefully you can see the journey its taken to get here. 

The NSPCC offer so much to those who do need it the most. And I do believe the reflection of our society is how we treat our children. 

As a husband and father, I can't think of any other charity more deserving of a couple of quid. 

I would be so grateful if you could take the time to sponsor me to help the cause and to motivate me in my training!

If you can’t but you’ve read the above, thank you for taking the time .

And if you want to try something, even if you don't think you can, just try it (within reason of course). 

You might surprise yourself