I’m running my first-ever half marathon at the Royal Parks Marathon on the 12th of October. I wish I was lucky to be selected in the first ballot but it is ok... I ended up been approached by a handful of charity options and after careful consideration, I decided to support Alcohol Change UK.

The charity is dedicated to research and positive change around alcohol use. I believe that good habits and balance are key to a healthy life, and while I enjoy a drink in moderation, I’ve seen firsthand how challenging self-control can be. This charity isn’t about prohibition; it’s about helping people make informed choices and improving lives through research and support.

Your donation can make a real difference—let’s do something good for the UK and beyond! 🚀🏃‍♂️💙

A little bit more about myself. I started running as a baby… that’s what my mom told me at least. :) Apart from that, I wasn’t really a regular runner until very recently—35 years later! To be more precise, in my mind, it feels like ages ago, but it was just last summer that I started to become a regular runner by joining my company’s Run Club—something that I now help organize and am very thankful for.

Since then, it has been a steep uphill journey, with a lot of help from a few friends who are regular runners—and maybe a bit of influence from the overall environment in London as well. I’ve been living here for a little over a year now, after spending almost 10 great years in the Netherlands. Over there, cycling was a big thing—so I had to find something else here!

But London and its beautiful parks… I have to say, they are quite impressive! Even better with so many activities like several Parkruns and the London Social Runners (LSR), which I am also a member of. All in all, I am very excited to have taken on such a challenge, and I’m pretty sure this is just the beginning!