2019 London Marathon.... I'm coming for you!



So you know my story and if you don't then please ready it below. Last year i shared my story with the word for the first time ever and raised a massive amount for the NSPCC, I trained hard for over a year and was ready for the race. On the day things just went wrong for me from the off, i left the hotel late and had to run to the start of the race to meet the charity for our team bits, a guy PEED on my foot at the start line, my Gel pack broke and i lost my gels at the 1 mile marker!!! Then at mile 3 my knee went i slogged on through but by mile 9 i had a tear develop down my right leg that was so painful words can not describe it. Again i pushed through this and continued the run. I watched as my predicted time of 3:30-3:45 slipped away, then the 4:30 times slipped away from me and i finally crossed the finish line in what for me was a very disappointing 5:01:27. I instantly felt like i had let everyone who had sponsored me down as despite me completing the challenge of the marathon my time was well over where it should have been and i had walked almost half of the distance. looking back now i can say that yes i did at least complete the run but i have unfinished business now and owe London another shot. SO for 2019 myself and my wife Laura are donating the minimum £2200 and would like to double this figure. I know you have sponsored me before and i wont be doing the rounds again this year. All i ask is that you remember why i am running and share my story with the world so that no child goes through what myself and my brothers went though all those years ago.

For those who have not read my story before please read it now.

So why am I running the London marathon for the NSPCC....

To answer that it is easier to answer a question that I get asked quite frequently...

Why do you run so much? Now to those that do not know me the answer I give is because I like food and run to burn it off, now the truth is so much more complicated. I run to get away from the demons of my past.

Not many people will of known this before reading this today but when I was in year 6 at school my youngest brother at the time was violently abused by my mothers partner resulting in him being cut, bit and thrown down the stairs of our home, he was only a toddler at the time and this resulted in him spending several months in hospital. All of this happened whilst my mother had been taken to the police station for questioning over another offence. What followed after this shaped my life and still effects me to this day.

Myself and my brothers were taken into foster care for our own safety at which point we were separated from each other myself and one brother were sent to one Carer and my other 2 brothers were sent to separate carers, we had a vast involvement with social services and the NSPCC coupled with interviews from police officers at NSPCC centres. Being young and in foster care you have to grow up fast and learn to protect yourself as often the locations we were placed in where not fantastic. Over the next few years we had a pretty horrific time with our minds being twisted and lied to by our mother to the point that we did not really know what had happened or where we were. All the time we were made to believe that the social services and NSPCC were evil and not to be trusted because they had taken us away from our mother.

After a while in care we were returned to my mother (other than my youngest brother who remained in care), my mother had spiralled out of control and was at the point of putting my brothers abuser above us (even though he had been remanded in prison on the isle of white). I recall drugs being brought into the house and being around people using these also knowing the names of several of the towns biggest drug dealers, in the stint that we were back with my mother she often took us down to the isle of white to see my brothers abuser where she smuggled drugs into him.

The abuser was finally found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in prison and my mum left him and moved on. I don't recall what happened next but do recall my mother dropping myself and bothers off in the countryside and telling us to run because the 'evil' social services were coming to get us again (I was 12/13 at this point) what happened after this was another long stint in foster care, this time I was sent to a pretty tough school where I really had to learn to look after myself as beatings happened to people frequently.

We stayed in care again for a number of months and then out of the blue where returned once again to my mother, during the last stay in care we frequently visited a children's centre in both my home town and Ipswich one of which had close ties to the NSPCC (I still recall the logo on the wall and the room with the giant two way mirror). I did go off the rails for some time after I left care for the last time but promised myself that my children would never go through what I went through.

I got back onto the right track, moved over 100 miles away from my family to ensure I never strayed back to the wrong track again.

I am still troubled today by the bad memories many of which are too painful to talk in great detail about, however to answer the original question truthfully.....

I run to keep my past out of my mind.

Why am I running the London marathon for the NSPCC, because no child should have a childhood like I and my brothers endured and the work of the NSPCC is crucial to not only help prevent or intervene in situations like what my family where in they also offer help and support to children once they are affected by situations like mine or worse.

So that question one final time, why do you run so much? The answer is simple because I love to eat food and have to keep the weight off somehow.