"Just put your name in" they said. "No-one gets in through the ballot anyway" they said.

It turns out, however, that some people do get through the ballot into the London Marathon, including me, so I'm going to try and make the most of it by raising some money for a cause that is a) close to my heart and b) a lesser known condition that deserves a wider awareness.

My son, Elliot, is fun, bright, kind and wants to be a Premier League goalkeeper. Or paleontologist. Or Mr Beast.

He's also neurodivergent, with one of his primary diagnoses being dyspraxia or DCD (he's also dyslexic, has sensory processing difficulties and a stammer). 

Dyspraxia is a condition that affects co-ordination and shows in areas such as physical games, fine motor skills like hand-writing, aspects of self-care such as eating, but also in cognitive processing speed in educational or work settings. It can be subtle, but has a profound impact, particularly for children in school and - because it's a less well understood condition - children, parents and teachers can struggle to get the support they need.

So I am going to use my inadvertent marathon entry to raise funds for the Dyspraxia Foundation UK, which exists to raise awareness of dyspraxia and support people all across the UK who are dyspraxic or are parents, teachers or other specialists such as therapists.

You can read more about the Dyspraxia Foundation here >>> https://dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/about-us/

Update: I was due to run London in October 2022 but we ended up relocating to North Wales in September (to a large degree because it's a better place from a sensory perspective for Elliot) and the move plus training weren't compatible. So I deferred to April 2023 and have decided to double up with the Marathon Eryri (or Snowdonia Marathon) in October 2023 which is decidedly non-flat and will definitely be a just-get-round effort.

Thanks for your support!

Rob