My Story

Growing up as someone who never thought that sport and fitness was possible despite having a big passion for it, I was written off; growing up, I wasn't allowed to do PE as a GCSE. I have spent most of my life overweight and lost 60 per cent of my overall body weight, which started in July 2018; with a big goal to achieve my Shodan Black belt in Go Ju Ryu Karate; I have done several years in karate, but my progress has stalled due to my weight and fitness  I was delighted to pass my black belt out in Belgium in July 2019.

Two weeks after achieving my black belt by accident on the way to football, I did my first park run as someone who said they would never run. Within a few weeks I had joined a running club as a non runner; a few weeks later, I helped marshal at Ironman 70.3 with my running club and knew this was what I wanted to do. I had done little running, and didn't own a bike or a wetsuit. 

Not long after this, I started being coached for triathlon, and lockdown came, and I needed a big goal, so I signed up to run my first marathon to keep me motivated during lockdown. I would have loved this first Marathon to have been London, but we know how hard it is to get in, so London will be my 10th marathon.

After marshalling at Weymouth 70.3 and becoming very addicted to training, I knew I needed to be coached, and now I am coached by Kit Walker and part of Total Tri Training. I work hard and stick entirely to my training plan. After my first marathon, I came across Outlaw Triathlon, and July last year, I completed my first full distance triathlon at Outlaw, which was 140.6 miles in Nottingham, a complete dream.

2023 started with running Goodwood marathon. 

This year I will be completing Outlaw half 70.3 in May. Lakesman 140.6 in June, Outlaw 140.6 in July, Outlaw X in September, Yorkshire Marathon in October on top of London marathon in April. I have also kept my karate up, hoping to grade to my 2nd dan out in Portugual in July. 

I am now a qualified personal trainer and gym instructor at 3d Health and Fitness, and passionate about helping people with their fitness goals. I personally have dyspraxia and asbergers syndrome, and many people think it is easier to write me off. Despite being written off at school, physically and academically, I have a 2:1 in a Applied Theology degree. I am passionate about my job as a managing chaplain of a prison and part of the Southern Counties Baptist Association.  If people write you off, get back up, train, and work harder. I am also back at Moorlands College part time, currently doing my Masters in Theology and Christian Leadership; I love Theology and Fitness. 

Despite achieving more than I dreamt possible fo me, London is the iconic Marathon I have been desperate to do the last four years, missing out on the ballots on all occasions.

I want to help and support people, and while I am blessed with good eye sight, I couldn't imagine a life with difficulties with my eyesight, something I have always been blessed to have. I have had friends and family members with problems and genuinely don't understand what this is like, but hopefully, raising funds here can help in some way.

When my relatively new running club and coach, JH Running, mentioned this opportunity, I wanted to grab it with both hands. Thank you guys.