It was never about the running. 💙

Sunday October 24th, 2021 - Joshua Dickerson

It’s now been a week since crossing the finish line of my second marathon in two weeks.

Although the day itself was by far one of the most physically demanding challenges of my life, it was the overwhelming emotion of the day that has taken the last week to recover from.

Other than the mental battle of keeping myself moving for another 15.2 miles after breaking down after the first 11, my main memory from the day was crying every time I saw a familiar face along the route.

When I look back on the challenge as a whole, it was never about running fast, nor was it about running far. In fact, it wasn’t even about running at all.

This challenge for me was about raising awareness of the realities of mental health and celebrating my mum’s life. When I set out on this journey on Mothers Day, I wanted to remember the real Amanda. The one with such a great sense of humour and fun. And the one whose family meant the world to her.

I hope that through my writing over the last few months I have done just this, whilst raising questions and starting conversations about mental health.

I am incredibly honoured to have been supporting Mind, the mental health charity, throughout this challenge. My initial target was to raise £2,000, but at the time of posting we’ve raised over £13,850 including Gift Aid; an amount I could never have imagined over 7 months ago.

If this goes to helping just one other family not have to go through the same as ours then it will have all been entirely worth it.

But for our family, a sense of closure from this challenge is needed. I could not be more proud of the way we have dealt with the last few months, each opening up in our own way and I know we are so much stronger for the next chapters of our lives because of it.

Of course, there is still a long way to go in beating the stigma associated with Mental Health. So, please do reach out if you ever feel like you need a walk, a chat, or maybe even a run!

Thank you for joining us on this journey. 💙

P.s. The fundraising page at Mindmiles.co.uk will remain open for a few more weeks for anyone that would like to donate.