Thanks to the extremely lovely, stair-machine-loving person I live with, in 2019 I was exposed to the magical world of mountain ultra races. Even as a supporter, the excitement during that Lakeland weekend meant that I barely slept as I watched the dots creep around the course. I was hooked and immediately signed up to the Lakeland 50 2020, struggling to think about anything else until the ballot result for 2020-entries was announced. 

I was lucky enough to bag a charity place and with approximately zero runs under my belt (but endless love for the outdoors), I downloaded my first training plan and I bought my first pair of running shoes.

As a grown-ass adult I lost my will to live during the lockdown, and I can only imagine how a lot of kids felt. For this reason I believe that the charity chosen by the fab Lakeland team is fantastic - EPIC KIDZ provides grants to voluntary groups to help children take part in sport. There is no need for me to tell you how important it is for children to participate in something meaningful and to feel that they belong. 

Once the Virtual Lakeland was announced in 2020, I instantly bagged myself a place for the 100 miler (where I did 105 miles/169km of running logged between 20-26th July 2020). Later the same year I did the virtual Lakeland Lapland (which was meant to be 12 days of 12 miles which I ended up condensing, lols). 

Finally... the real thing is happening. I have not trained as much as I would have  love to, due to constantly being injured or unwell but c'est la vie. If I complete my 50 miles under the time that takes to Joe to complete his 105 miles... I will be happy :)) This is 100% not about me or how fast I go :)

If you also believe that having more kids involved in sports is important, please spare some change. Every little helps.

Thank you so much for your time and contributions <3

Photo: Wast Water, the day before the lockdown was announced.
Video from Lakeland 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4xSCAK_Q4