Having had a very lazy and hungry lockdown, I needed a goal to focus on to get me back to the level of fitness I had pre-lockdown. I have always been a good runner and have always enjoyed long distance fell and trail running. It was always my plan to run ultra-marathons, unfortunately I was diagnosed with arthritis in 2015 which made running anything over 5 miles painful. In 2019 I had an operation which has given me temporary relief (maybe 5 – 7 years) from painful joints, this has allowed me to focus on running at least one ultra-marathon. I have signed up to do the Llangollen 50k, it’s only just an ultra-marathon but it is an ultra, so I’ll take it.    

I decided that this race had to be for charity and for a special one at that. I have decided to run this race to raise money for Team Tom. Tom fought meningitis as a baby which resulted in him having cerebral palsy and is partially sighted as a result. In March of this year, at the age of 16, Tom woke up completely paralysed from the armpit down. After a number of investigations Tom was diagnosed with a neurological disease which has affected his spine. Tom and his parents have finally been given some light in the form of SDR surgery. Unfortunately, because of Tom’s age and severity of problems, this pioneering surgery is not funded by the NHS.

I went to school with Tom’s dad James, although we mixed in different groups back then, we have had the odd catch up on Facebook, mainly around the time I was training for a marathon and James was training for the great northern run. Something I didn’t know at the time, Tom was training to do the junior great north run, as previously stated Tom has cerebral palsy and as a result has mobility issues, I remember seeing the pictures of Tom completing the race using his walking aid and thinking “what a star”. Please help give Tom a chance of a better life, the surgery doesn’t guarantee he’ll be able to walk again but it will at least free his body of pain and discomfort.