Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In case you don't know me, I'm a 53 year old dad & husband who has made big lifestyle changes in the last 14 months because my family need me to be fit and healthy, as much as I do.  My daughter, Ava, is a fast growing 3 1/2 year old, and although she has a very rare metabolic condition (Glut-1DS), she's a normal child in every way, and has wonderfully changed our lives forever. 

My wife (Catherine) and I have been involved with Matthew's Friends, through Ava's condition, since around April 2013, just a few months after she was first diagnosed with GLUT1 Deficiency Syndrome. They have been, and continue to be, a fantastic source of support for us as parents of a Glut-1 child, so anything I can do to help them in their efforts is simply a privilege. Catherine has supported the charity through a number of projects already, including presentations and keto-cooking days (videoed), so it's my turn to do something.

Having my own family is the most important thing in the world to me, but I was finding in late 2014 that keeping up with Ava and trying to be a doting father, a good husband and running my own business, was becoming much more difficult to cope with than it should have been, plus some more serious health issues were creeping in….not good!  So, I took a long hard look at where I was in terms of my weight, many bad habits, total lack of exercise and health issues etc.,  and decided that it was time to put a line under that all and make some much needed & immediate changes in lifestyle.

So, in the last year, I have lost just under 6 stone in weight (through diet and exercise), and stopped doing all those things that normally de-rail any efforts to get healthy, including booze & poor diet choices etc.  I'm healthy and fit now, with no health issues at all, and I intend to stay this way.  

In December 2015 I decided I wanted to start running for the first time in 40 years, but rather than just use the gym to keep fit, and I thought I would make sense to really push myself, and see if I could also do some good for others at the same time.  12 months, ago, the prospect of even jogging to the end of our road would have made me LOL very loud indeed…but here we are eh!

The 'Run Norwich' 10K event this year on the 7th August is the first official event of this type I have ever done in my life, and although not a huge distance like a Marathon, it feels like a big deal to a novice like me, and an important achievement to be honest.  I've made some big changes, and some would say sacrifices, in the last year to become a better person - a better husband and better daddy for Ava. It's all proved to me that it's doable if you really want to do it, and equally important, to make sure it stays that way.

I'm regularly training outdoors with runs (actually it's really jogging for me at the moment), so I'll pop up some pictures of my progress, but it's not been as easy to transition from a nice warm gym to the real-world (cold & wet here in the UK at the moment) as I would have liked, but I'm getting there, and enjoying it.  I'm learning a new running vocabulary though, including acronyms that accurately describe the muscle & tendon pain I experience after certain runs (DOMS - look it up!), but it's all for a great cause and always feels good after getting out and doing it.

If you can relate to my short story (so far) and feel you would like to make a small donation, then I'd be really happy to give something back to Matthew's Friends through your support.  They were able to support us during a very dark & difficult time for my little family, along with the amazing team at Great Ormond Street Hospital,  so anything you can afford to give would be brilliant…and thank you  :o)

Cheers.

Richard

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