If you told me even three months ago I would be running a half-marathon I would have told you that you're crazy and anyone who knows me would laugh at the idea!

I'm someone who's always been active throughout my life, well at least until around the age of 20 where I stopped playing football, the only exercise I really get now is dog walks and walking around a golf course.

I started the idea of going for runs just to feel better about myself and ultimately feel fitter, at the start I couldn't even run 2.5km without needing to stop for breath. My friend then floated the idea of running in Swindon's half marathon, running a full marathon is something that's always been on my bucket list but I've never taken any strides to actually do it, until now at least, I also thought this would be a good opportunity to support a good cause that's close to my heart.

Me and my girlfriend are both 28 and have owned family dogs our whole life, Labradors, Rottweilers, Pugs, St Bernard's, Staffy's to name a few (quite a mix in there!), we moved into our first home together in 2021 and once settled in wanted to get our first dog together, we considered a variety of breeds but landed at a Golden Retriever, neither of us had owned one before but we wanted a nice family dog that would keep us active and has character.. then came Leo.

We've had Leo from a puppy (he's 2 years old now), he's a complete bundle of joy, our best friend and the perfect dog, well apart from stealing other dogs balls & frisbee's but we're working on that!

I want to run the half-marathon for a good cause and with Golden Retrievers close to our heart I came across Southern Golden Retriever Rescue (SGRR) who are a great small charity we'd love to support.

Southern Golden Retriever Rescue is a UK registered charity. They are a group of home based volunteers who are all Golden Retriever owners. They do not have any kennels and spend their time meeting and assessing each dog in their present home and then meeting each home who offers to adopt a dog. If they feel the dog is a good fit they then arrange for everyone to meet and help with the actual rehoming. They've helped c40 dogs in 2025.

The majority of their donations are spent on funding dogs with costly medical conditions. As all dog owners know, vet fees these days quickly mount up.

This case in particular is for a 10 month old female Retriever called Daisy (pictured).

Daisy is being rehomed because she has had several seizures recently, probably a condition called Early Onset Epilepsy which is not uncommon in Golden Retrievers and her owners are not able to cope. SGRR shall pay for her medications and treatment for life which may amount to over £1000.00 a year and she is not yet one years old.

SGRR's volunteers travel much of the south of England giving entirely freely a huge amount of their time. They maintain contact with all the dogs they help, and have many stories of dogs they've helped from pups to old age and others they help at their Golden Oldie stage perhaps for just a few months.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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.