In April this year I will be running the London Landmarks Half Marathon. After running the Hackney Half with zero training in 2023 I vowed I would never run another - I basically hated every second of it, and two years out my hip still crunches ominously when I exercise...I'm running another half this year to raise money for the National Literacy Trust. Low literacy levels among children have a scarring impact on their long-term life prospects. On average, children from the poorest backgrounds start school 19 months behind other children. Children who don't enjoy a good level of literacy are:

- five times more likely to fail to meet the expected standards in English at age 11

- four times more likely to struggle to read as adults

- twice as likely to be unemployed aged 34

- three times more likely to have mental health problems as adults

You can read more about the National Literacy Trust and their fantastic work here: https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/

I will be so grateful for any support in this - thank you!