UPDATE: In addition to the Cardiff Half 2026, I have now signed up to run Prague and Lisbon in 2027 for Heart Research UK!

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I’m running for my mum.

I’m running for every mother whose greatest gift of motherhood may come with invisible health costs. I’m running for Heart Research UK, to support vital research that helps us better understand heart conditions like dilated cardiomyopathy and how factors such as pregnancy and maternity affect women’s heart health.

My mum is a force of nature. She navigated nine pregnancies and raised seven children. It is no small feat for one woman, but unfortunately, her heart is now paying the ultimate price for that devotion. In 2022, my mum was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy.

I now live with the difficult reality that she may manage this condition into old age, or her heart may eventually fail. I have found peace with both outcomes. I can’t change her diagnosis, but I can choose what I do with my own body, my own heart, and my own time, so I run.

Every step I run is a reminder that my heart still beats strongly even as hers struggles. I am running to stay alive, to stay healthy, and to honour the woman who gave everything so that I could be here. I run as far as my body will carry me, not out of fear, but out of gratitude and determination.

Your donation funds hope for families like mine. It supports the research that could help a mother see her children grow old.

Please donate whatever you can. Every penny is a reminder that while some hearts struggle, we can all move together to keep them beating.

Thank you for your support.