About

On the 19th April I will be undertaking and hopefully completing the toughest physical and mental challenge I have ever trained for - my first marathon. To give an idea of the effort it has taken to get to this point, the 19th April will mark 11 months to the day since I completed my first run since leaving school 10 years ago. On this occasion I ran 2 miles in 28 minutes. 125 runs and 1000km later, I am hopeful of completing the Manchester marathon in 3 hrs 45 minutes... It took me a long time to decide which charity I should do this for, with lots of worthy causes out there, but I have decided to run for a small local charity responsible for giving me both my inspiration to start running, and my best friend. The charity is Animal Refuge Furness. This charity have for the past 36 years run on an extremely tight budget to care for and rheum the dogs in the Barrow pound, saving thousands of dogs from an otherwise certain death. Any donations are warmly received, but I would just as much like to raise awareness for a campaign that was started a few years ago by Battersea Dog's Home - 'Staffies, they're softer than you think'. Across the UK, dog pounds (including Barrow) are inundated with so called 'status' dogs (typically 'staff' cross breeds), who sadly don't get a look in when most people choose to adopt a dog, due to the image portrayed of them. Despite this, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier remains one of few breeds recommended for working families with young children. I would love to make people aware of what a loyal, loving and relatively easy breed the 'Staffie' actually is - and would urge people to take a look at the website and if anybody is thinking of adopting a dog, don't overlook the 'Staffie', it was the best choice I ever made... Staffies, they're softer than you think...