I have worked with United Response for a few years now. My seniors have been so supportive of my mental health and they gave me the opportunity to progress my career from agency Support Worker to Team Manager.

I’m proud of the job I do and I love that I can make a difference to the lives of the people we support. I want to return my gratitude by running the Virgin Money London Marathon 2021 on their behalf, raising as much money as I can.

My fundraising target is £1500 and I’m over half way there already!

Donate to Faye’s fundraising page

London Marathon 2020

Two years ago, I signed up to run the 2020 London Marathon for United Response.

The event was scheduled to take place in April, but due to the pandemic it was initially postponed until October then it got cancelled.

It’s the first time the race has been postponed since its launch in 1981.

This put tremendous strain on my training, not to mention my fundraising efforts. So I had to rethink how I was going to raise the funds in order to take part in the amazing event and run for United Response.

My training crew

During phase one of my training, I was running with my ‘training crew’ – my Westies, Paddy and Louie.

Teammates: Paddy and Louie joining in with Faye’s training

Paddy (blue collar) is the lazy one and Louie (red collar) will run for miles!

We have had a lot of fun so far and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come. For some reason they love to jump in every puddle along the way, so by the end of the run it looks like they’ve been rolling around in the mud.

I also started my own blog to provide updates about my training journey and drum up some support, which will hopefully will lead to more donations.

Biometric assessment

In 2013, I suffered a spinal injury. This resulted in nerve damage and slight weakness in my right leg, so I visited my friend who is a spinal physiotherapist.

I got diagnosed with spinal arthritis and had to have nerve root block injections. Following the physio’s advice and exercises, I recovered and continued running.

However since increasing my mileage for training, I’ve noticed my right leg getting fatigued quicker than usual and I feel more of an imbalance from my pelvis/right hip.

Because of this, I immediately started doing my old Physiotherapy exercises. Lots of posterior and anterior pelvic tilts, bridges, clams – you name it, I did it! I know where my weaknesses are so need to get on top of them before I get an injury.

My partner Emma had booked in to get her orthotics updated in April with a specialist she used to rehab her ankle operation. She offered to pay for me to have an assessment too. I was dead excited as I’d wanted one for ages but Covid happened.

I have recently written a more detailed blog about the biomechanical assessment and what the specialist told me to do.

Keeping motivated

As well as writing my blog, I’ve found that regularly updating my running playlist is great for motivation:

I absolutely needed some of these songs on my last run to keep my mind on the go or my legs would have given up on mile three…

When your favourite 90’s/00’s tune comes on, suddenly you’re Usain Bolt!

Donate to Faye

Faye will be running the Virgin Money London Marathon for us on Sunday, 3 October 2021.

You can support her by donating here:

Donate to Faye’s fundraising page

Run for United Response

We still have a few places left to run for us in the Virtual London Marathon!

All you need to do is run or walk 26.2 miles between 00:00:00 and 23:59:59 on Sunday 3rd October:

Find out more