For those of you who don't know my story, my name is Dan and I’m fairly ordinary. Outwardly, at least. I live in middle-England (Stoke-on-Trent to be precise), have a wife and a teenage son, work for the council and run with my local running club (Trentham RC) to keep my 40-something-year-old body and mind healthy. It’s a perfectly comfortable, if unremarkable, existence. I also have stage four kidney disease, which is the reason I am here. On JustGiving that is.

After a sudden and marked progression of my disease, I have decided to set myself a series of challenges that will enable to live life to the fullest while I wait for a transplant, as well as raise funds for Kidney Research UK. I have been running for 15 years or so, during which time I have run seven marathons and countless half marathons. I have rarely asked for sponsorship, but now the time has come, a meagre marathon simply will not do. Time to think big!

With this in mind I have joined forces with two lovely friends and running companions (Ali and Sarah Jackson-Hedges) and entered Race to the Stones in July 2019, a 100km ultra marathon over two days of trails, from the Chilterns to the North Wessex Downs… as well as the odd half marathon (Stafford) and full marathon (Manchester) here and there thrown in for good measure. 

There will be no heroics and no PB’s, slow and steady will win this race… 2019 may by my last opportunity for some time. Thank you for reading and welcome aboard. If you’d like to stay in touch, please read my blog (http://r24trc.home.blog) and follow me on twitter @R24TRC.