19th September – Run 16 – 5.32 miles (16.56m to go)

I’m feeling really determined right now. We’ve had a great push on sponsorship, thank you very much, and are going dangerously close to the £500 mark, which is amazing. I wonder how many lives that might save, how many people that money might help bring back from the brink? Thank you for your generosity in supporting this push.

Of course, whilst raising the money has been brilliant, it has also helped me personally. I’ve been super focused on this, and today I needed the miles to clear my head. Our local farmer, Henry Smith, passed away recently and today was his funeral. He was a lovely man, and there were so many people there a marquee had to be set up opposite the church for the service to be broadcast, and even then, people were standing out of the marquee. It was a huge indication of the respect people have for Henry, and he will be sorely missed.

Getting out for a run afterwards helped me focus on what is important in life. Henry is held in such high esteem because he was always friendly with anyone. He’d often see me running and sometimes pull his truck over for a quick chat – once, I fear it cost me a then-PB as I didn’t want to run on but instead say hello and shoot the breeze for five minutes! The qualities he had are qualities I think everyone should look to adopt; he was just a thoroughly nice man, friendly, approachable and passionate about everything around him.

Those qualities cost nothing, but their value is immeasurable. He was a huge figure here in Withcall, described as a legend during the service, and accurately so. When we lost Marcus last year, his friends suggested we should all ‘be more Marcus’, and I feel if we also all tried to ‘be more Henry’, the world would be a better place.