RUNNING FOR SHELTER

My son Sid and I (Sam) are raising money for the amazing people at Shelter by taking part in this year's Hackney Half Marathon.

I started running a month ago after my 4 year old son Sid learned to ride a bike and it became sweaty work to keep up with him. Since then, we've gradually built up to a 10k journey with no pauses and no whinging. Pretty cool for a 4 year old on a tiny gearless bike.

Turns out a half marathon is just twice that much, so with some light coercion from his mum, Sid and I are now training for the Hackney Half Marathon on the 18th May.

Sid won't be allowed on the half marathon course, but he will be training with me throughout, all the way up to a 16km cycle the week before the marathon. We're still trying to figure out how he might be able to do a concurrent race - most likely beating my time...

I'm very fortunate to be a resident of the amazing borough of Hackney, and that my children are growing up here in a safe and stable home. Home is a human right. It's our foundation. It's where we thrive. Yet, every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency. We see it in Hackney just as we do across the world.

From local advice to legal representation, in the fight against homelessness and our broken housing system, Shelter exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.

LCD Soundsystem bring the message home pretty nicely.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, and for considering donating to our run for shelter. And if you want to join our runs/cycles, give us a shout, we've already had some good special guests.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.