This year (after waiting many years on what felt like a neverending NHS waiting list) I have FINALLY been diagnosed with ADHD. This will come as a shock to absolutely nobody.

The only way I kept hope and my patience intact through that very long waiting period was with the help of James, Alex and Sam (and everybody else too) at ADHD Adult UK. They’ve provided me with access to evidence-based information about this stupid thing I have and would rather not have, which has helped me to emotionally accept that it’s affected my life drastically from the very beginning even though for most of my life I didn’t even know what it was. I just knew that my brain didn’t work like most people’s did.

Thanks to them I can put the cruel words of teachers, employers and ‘friends’ who told me relentlessly that I just wasn’t trying hard enough to be normal and organised. I hope that any money I raise can help them to help more people to navigate the waiting time, assessments and treatments.

I also hope that raising some money for a worthy charity will help to motivate me through these last few weeks of marathon training! It’s been a training block of setbacks, illness, grief, new medications and lots and lots of dreadful weather. I really need a boost!