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This year we decided to sponsor a long-term Goupie Groupie, Jaide Hartridge, on her admirable London Marathon journey. This pretty much required minimal effort from us, other than donating a couple of boxes for prizes and some money to her Virgin Media page (please do click on the link and donate yourself!), so we thought it was probably better that she told you herself why she decided to run. Hear from Jaide below:
"I ran a half marathon 2 years ago and, with some pretty poor prep, found it to be one of the most challenging things I’d ever done. As a result of this, I swore never to run again and had convinced myself that running simply wasn’t for me. Fast forward a year and I had re-discovered why I took up running in the first place… plodding along in the sunshine (very much a fair weather runner) at a distance of anything up to 7km.
On 1st April 2017, a very good friend of mine and someone I’ve been fortunate enough to have grown up with, Alexander Quealy, took his own life at just 23 years old. Suicide has become the biggest killer of young men under the age of 45; a statistic many people are unaware of. I decided I wanted to raise money in Ali’s memory, and to raise awareness of male suicide... what better way than to challenge myself to the London Marathon! The Mental Health Foundation is my chosen charity and one that is very close to my heart.
My training so far has gone well, albeit somewhat brutal! The longer weekend runs started in the New Year, beginning with 10 miles and working up to 21 miles, with 3x 20-21 mile runs completed. I have run in the “Beast from the East”, torrential rain, bitterly cold wind and the occasional sunshine. With under 2 weeks to go, the hard work is done and I can now start to “taper”, i.e. reduce the mileage down so I’m hopefully in peak form for the big day (although this still includes 14 miles this weekend!).
So far I have raised money largely through cake sales and spreading the word via social media. Ali’s mum, Tonie, very kindly held a Coffee and Cake Morning which raised a whopping £415.25, as a result I am now at 85% of my £1,800 target. I plan on doing several more cake sales at work to raise more money, and anything, however small, people can give would be much appreciated."
We think you will agree that that £5 you have in your bank account would be well spent sponsoring this truly worthy cause. It's definitely a better choice than that extra pint at the pub or even (dare we say it) a box of Goupie! So just incase you missed the link the first time, here it is again: Jaide's Fundraising Page.
We'll keep you updated on how she does after the marathon - so stay posted!