Hello everyone, Charlie here,

In May 2018 I applied to run the London Marathon, happy in the knowledge that nobody ever wins a free ballot place and therefore I wouldn't need to prepare.  October 2018 comes by, and unbeknown to me, London Marathon ballot places are being assigned.

The running community is in uproar, as for the 20th time in a row people were unsuccessful in the ballot and getting rejected. People who had run a hundred other marathons were getting turned down due to random chance.

A couple of days pass, and a magazine comes through the letterbox addressed to me. That's odd, because the last magazine I subscribed to was probably a year long National Geographic subscription when I was 12 (I was not a popular teenager). The magazine was a London Marathon acceptance magazine.

Just like that, something that would bring joy to hundreds around the running world, filled me with fear. 

Emily was fuming. 

Having run three other marathons previously, she is desperate to run London and here I was taking a place with no previous full marathon experience. I have previously run two half marathons and they completely ruined me.

The bottom line is Emily has turned that disappointment into a determination to train me to run a full marathon. But to get me over the line I really need her alongside me or I genuinely might not make it.

We are therefore raising money for an excellent charity, to help people get the Relate services they need and allow Emily to join me on this ridiculous venture.

We have chosen to fundraise for RELATE as this charity provides counselling and advice to adults and children in relation to any aspect of their mental health. This includes, but is not limited to bullying, LGBTQ+ issues, addiction, domestic violence and family relationships.

Counselling is often hard to access, with long waiting lists meaning help is not always there when people are at their most vulnerable. Nearly all of us will suffer from anxiety, work place stresses or family problems at some point in our lives and no one deserves to suffer alone.

Please help us raise money for people who need access to counselling  when they are vulnerable and require support. It is an incredibly worthy cause and the work RELATE do is second to none. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.