The Charity Challenge

The Challenge:

Six Half Marathons, Four Marathons and run 1,000 miles in 2016.

So far I have got booked in: Hampton Court Half Marathon, Reading Half Marathon, Silverstone Half Marathon, Great North Run, London Marathon, San Fransisco Marathon, Copenhagen Marathon and Istanbul Marathon.

The 1,000 mile challenge you will be able to check up on by heading over to Strava, if you have an account just search my email address (james@coffeeandcountries.com). I will also be posting updates on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdunnyearofrunning so click like to keep up with all the running!

The Charities:

I have entered all the runs personally so I could pick the two charities that are very close to my heart but for very different reasons.
The first is Tibet Relief Fund, a charity supporting Tibetans inside Tibet and those living in exile. 2016 will celebrate a decade of working within the Tibetan cause and I thought of no better way to thank a community that helped shaped who I am then by fundraising for them. Dharamshala, the town in India that is my second home and the capital of Tibetans living in exile, is one of it’s key focus areas and I have seen first hand the awe-inspiring and varied work that they are helping fund; from schooling and cultural preservation to environmental aids and healthcare. Following the heartbreaking earthquake in Nepal, Tibet Relief Fund was there (and still is) helping to piece together shattered communities.

Lillian Faithful Homes is a charity I chose because of my amazing grandmother, Pamela, who died in 2015. Pam moved into one of their care homes a year and a half before she passed and the care they gave her throughout her time was quite frankly saintly. When Granny’s vascular dementia reared its ugly head they were there teaching us in classes, organised for all relatives of residence, about what it was and how we can help ease their worried minds. They were always there for us to give advice or just be a shoulder to cry on when it all got a bit tough. In the last few days of her life they never left her side or ours and their feeling of loss was equal to ours, a true showing of how much they cared. Granny was my inspiration in a lot of things I have done and I’m sure she would think I was mad to be doing this but motivational none the less.

If you choose to donate every £10 is a song you can pick (any song…) that will be on my running playlist for all my half marathons and marathons.