Running Half Marathon for OCD UK

Good day all! On October 8th I’ll be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon and raising money for OCD UK ⚔️

Only a few of my very close friends and family know this, but for about 9 years I’ve battled with OCD. For those of you who aren’t sure, OCD isn’t something that mildly annoys you if things aren’t neat and in order, as is commonly thought. OCD is an absolute constant unstoppable onslaught of really horrible intrusive thoughts and compulsions, usually fixated around the things and people you care most about, which leave you feeling anxious, depressed, detached and a lot of the time like a piece of shit and a very bad person.

For a very long time OCD relentlessly plagued my entire existence and every single aspect of it. It made my life hell and on a few occasions almost too difficult to bear at all. However over the last few years, through an absolute fuck ton of therapy and self work, regular exercise, and an unrelenting dedication to accepting this insidious nightmare of a mental distortion, I can proudly say I have been very on top of it for a year and a half. Naturally I still have bad days, but I no longer see ocd as a part of my identity that I can’t change, but instead something external that pops up when I’m not looking after myself or need to process something.

I’ve been quite nervous about sharing this. As I’m sure pretty much all of you know, mental health problems are something that unfortunately come with a lot of shame, embarrassment and perceived weakness, especially for men. Like I said, only a select few friends and family know that I’ve dealt with this, and for a long time I wanted to keep it that way for fear of being judged or seen as pathetic or whatever. But I’m at a point now where I feel comfortable speaking about it as I know it could possibly help others fighting the same battles - fairly recently I discovered that one of my very close mateys struggles with ocd as well and now we regularly chat about it which is very cathartic ❤️

Something that’s been unbelievably fundamental for me in the managing of my mental health and ocd recovery has been exercise, whether that’s swinging a kettlebell, doing yoga, callisthenics, cycling, gym or running. I’m not a big runner at all, I go for one maybe once every 3 months and the most ground I’ve ever covered is 12k. However I really want to push myself with this half marathon, and so I’m aiming to run it in an hour and a half / hour 40. It’s a fucking ambitious target especially since I hardly ever run and I’ve also just recovered from a silly little back injury The training to get that time is pretty intense, it’ll require discipline, structure and commitment, but I want to prove to myself that I can achieve it the same way I did it with getting on top of ocd ️

So, I’ll be running for everyone who suffers from OCD, or has a loved one who does, and of course for anyone who’s ever experienced any mental health issues. The link to donate is in my bio, all donations will go towards the charity OCD UK who ‘provide advice, information and support services for those affected by OCD, and campaign to end the trivialisation and stigma of OCD.’ If you’re curious about learning more about OCD please head to their website, which is full of amazing information.

All the love in the world to everyone ❤️ if you’re going through any mental health struggles, stay strong. I promise you you’re not alone and you will get through it ❤️ now enough waffling from my medieval self, time to train ⚔️⚔️