We are sisters and we are friends too....but this challenge may be a test of both! We are running the 2018 Virgin London Marathon together to raise money for the amazing NSPCC. This is the first time we will have run a marathon together. We have been training together, there has been fun times, snow, quiet times, adventures and even more snow! 26.2 miles around the streets of London will be a test of sisterhood and friendship....will we still be on speaking terms by the end...who will have the biggest blisters? The most chaffing? Eaten the most jelly babies?!

Whatever happens on the day it will be a great adventure and what's really important to us both is to support the NSPCC by raising as much money as possible, we'd really appreciate any donation large or small...just click the button below ;-)

Who wouldn't want to be part of keeping a child safe? You can help by donating as little as the cost of a cup of coffee:

• £3 could pay for the Speak out Stay safe programme to reach 1 primary school child, giving them the knowledge to protect themselves from abuse
• £4 could pay for 1 trained volunteer counsellors to answer a child's call for help to Childline
• £5 could cover the cost of answering a call to the NSPCC helpline
• £25 could pay for a trained practitioner to deliver 1 hour of Pregnancy in Mind to help new parents with the ups and downs of having a baby
• £555 could cover the cost for our Speak out Stay safe programme to visit 1 primary school and speak to every child aged 5-11
• £1,600 could pay to recruit, train and support a new Childline volunteer.

So that why we have set our target at 5k, we want to train 2 volunteers, give full Stay Safe programmes to 2 schools and help over 200 children's call's for help get answered.

We both have slightly different reasons for choosing to run for the NSPCC;

From Emma;

I'm running my first ever marathon for the NSPCC and I’d really appreciate any donation no matter how small (or large !) 

I started to get more involved with NSPCC approx 3 years ago through my job and the tireless work they do supporting children in sometimes a harrowing situations is immense. The work of all the child line teams around the country is relentless as sad as that is. I wouldn’t ever want to think that a child crying out for help didn’t have anywhere to go and child line and the NSPCC do just that. Finally, as a mum to my gorgeous twins I always thought the NSPCC would be a charity that I wouldn’t need as it didn’t impact me or my children’s life. I got to it wrong the prevention  work the NSPCC do in schools is amazing, helping them understand what is / isn’t ok in a child friendly way is so reassuring. None of this is possible without donations for them. 

My sister is my running buddy, she’s my inspiration when it comes to all things but particularly exercise. Running a marathon is as much as mental challenge as a physical one so having her by my side every step of the way has got me this far. I’m  still waiting for the day my head and legs are both on good form on the same day :-) 

Thanks for reading :-) 

Em 

From Sarah:

Some of you may know that I've run quite a few marathons before but weirdly I have never run one with anybody else...I'm part excited by running with Emma but part nervous as the going can get tough sometimes in a marathon and having to think about what somebody else is doing or how they are feeling can be hard....the chances of us falling out might be quite high!

I feel incredibly privileged to have the chance to raise funds for the NSPCC with Emma. Some of you may also know that for the last 20 years of my professional career I have worked in children's mental health services. I 2 million percent believe that we all have a responsibility to do what we can to help children grow into happy and healthy adults. Where there may be circumstances that threatens a child's ability to grow up feeling confident and proud of themselves I belive we all have a duty to try our best to make things different for all children.

The work that the NSPCC does is exactly that....they work hard in many ways to help things be different for children that need things to be different for them. They work hard to protect children, keep them safe from harm and where things have not been ok for them they help them recover and face their future in the best way possible. They also provide fantastic information for parents, carers and professionals that helps keep children safe every single day. 

Thanks for reading Sarah x

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.