Let’s cut to the chase. For this Six Star journey, I decided I will raise funds the whole way through. Not only that, I will also raise funds for 2 special charities – Cancer Research UK and Home-start Portsmouth. Now it’s slightly unconventional to raise money for 2 charities but you know what, like everything else about this challenge, well why not?
Cancer Research UK. As mentioned in a previous post, I intend on pursuing a career in Oncology. So choosing this charity – intended for the Spring Marathons – Tokyo and London. Apart from the obvious, funding for cancer research, what I really like about this charity is it also uses some of the funding for the researchers, the people working hard on breakthroughs against cancer – investing time and taking sometimes years to produce results good and safe enough results that could make a difference in people’s lives.
Home-Start Portsmouth. When I told David, I wanted to raise money and which charity I should raise money for – he said “If you want the money to go a long way, pick a local charity.” And naturally, we decided on a charity that supports children. There are many families, especially with very young children, who maybe having a difficult time. Especially nowadays when the cost of living crisis is very much on the forefront of people’s minds. Home-Start Portsmouth is a local charity that has been around for 30 years supporting young families in getting a good start in life. They have several programmes they run and are also very accessible and easy to get in touch with.
So why fundraise? There are so many different reasons why people support a charity – to remember someone by, it feels good, believe in a cause, to help out, to make a difference. For me, my idea of racing always comes hand in hand with raising money. I raised money for Anthony Nolan for my first marathon and for Children with Cancer UK for my second marathon. Fundraising is a very good way not only to raise awareness but also get people together and hopefully, inspire them too. I always think ‘well, somebody’s got to benefit if I put in all this effort.’ And in my head, I always think that…
If I can make each mile go further (well not physically of course), if I can increase the value of each mile I run, then it’s worth running that mile.
Raising money is also just as challenging as training for a race. With training, I have to prove to myself that I’m good enough for the race, that I could run 26.2 miles without getting injured or even dying. With raising money, I have to convince I others that this cause is good enough to support. And again, amidst the cost of living crisis, it might even be harder to convince people to give up a little bit of their hard-earned money. However, people do rally around those who need help and most of the time, the outcomes are unexpected and incredible. So get donating! Please.
Now here’s my Extra Challenge… I don’t have social media. No Facebook. No Insta. No TikTok. Only this blog, old fashion email, and telling people about it. I’ve not done a great job yet about this as I had to put my energy of other things during the past few weeks. Now, I am 6 weeks in and have now broke a hundred miles AND blogging for 6 week as well – I think it is time to turn the fundraising gear up a notch.
So please, I would like to invite you to join me on my Six Star journey – I’ll do the running OR you can also join me with the running (that would be amazing), and if like me, you think these charities are fighting a good fight, then kindly check out my Fundraising Pages – My Fundraising Page – Cancer Research UK and My Fundraising Page – Home-Start Portsmouth. Thank you from the bottom of my soles!
Side note: This week I had 2 milestones… my schedule finally allowed me to meet my 20 miles/week goal AND I’ve run over 100 miles since I started training in October.
Reach for the Seven Stars 