Emily's first ever 10K race for Samaritans!

I'm Emily and I will be running the Bognor 10K on Sunday 12th May!

In February, circumstances beyond my control, led to me finding myself deep in a mental health crisis. Things felt really dark and really scary and I felt so alone. After worrying I'd bothered people around me too much, I contacted the Samaritans. I contacted them 4 times during my crisis and, just for those moments, I felt a little bit less alone.

I started going on walks every evening to get myself out the house and my walks started to turn into runs, desperately needing something to focus on. Just 30 seconds at a time. Every night I wanted to give up. But I was so done with giving up when things got hard, so I kept pushing myself. Fast forward 3 months and I just ran my first ever 10K evening run!

I've never run in daylight. Or run a race. And I've only just about made it to 10K with a fair amount of crying mixed in. And I am incredibly slow. So this could be interesting But I am determined to get over that finish line - crawling if I have to!

Every 90 minutes, someone in the UK dies by suicide, and every six seconds, somebody contacts Samaritans for help. Losing my beautiful friend Shannon to suicide has changed my life, irreparably. She never got the chance to share her story, but I am determined to live for us both and do all the things that make me scared. And I'm determined to choose life, because tomorrow is never promised.

I'd love any support in raising money for a charity that is so needed and helps so many people, every single second of every single day.

Thank you!