Thank you for visiting and your support!

So, mid life crisis aside, the reason I am attempting this challenge is to hopefully raise some money for a charity I have been involved with for a while now, AGE UK. 

The challenge starts in Richmond and finishes on Brighton seafront and is 100 km, 62 miles or 2 marathons with 10 miles thrown in for good luck. The route is along a mixture of road, fields and woodlands and I believe there may be a few hills in there too, but I am trying not to think about that too much! 

During lockdown I was watching an episode of 24 hours in A&E and there was a really nice, funny elderly gent who was in hospital and had no one who to visit him, no family, no friends, he didn't have anyone at all.  He was putting on a brave face and the nurses were paying him special attention but it was heart breaking to see.

It struck a real chord with me and before the program had finished I had emailed AGE UK to see how I could help. I got involved with becoming a telephone friend, where I call an elderly person once a week, same time, same day, and we just chat about the week , what we have been watching on tv and just  life in general. For the last 6 months I have been chatting to a lovely lady called Sue. Some weeks I could be the the only person she speaks to that week and I know she really looks forward to our chats.  We have a laugh and put the world to rights and I enjoy the call as much, if not more than Sue does.

Until I got involved I never realised AGE UK offer so many different and varying services foe elderly people, including handyman services, meals and drop in centres where people can just be social. There are almost 2 million older people in the UK who suffer with loneliness, and I hope the funds I raise will help AGE UK reach out to more of them and help remind them how great life can be!

Thank you for your support. I know when I reach 15 hours in, or get to 90 km and my body and legs want to quit, reminding myself why I am doing this by looking at this page and seeing all your support will get me over the line x