Lockdown supporter stories

I was originally training for Manchester Marathon and the London Marathon when they were 3 weeks apart but I've sadly had to pull out of Manchester as it has been rescheduled for just a week after London and I know my limits - 2 marathons a week apart are way out of them!

I was due to have a quiz night and raffle which had sold out but I had to cancel it. I will be rescheduling it, I'm really excited for my raffle. I collected prizes when I was out on runs and have some great prizes including restaurant vouchers, afternoon tea, massages and signed Tom Kerridge cookbooks!

The bulk of my fundraising had been raised by bake sales, I'm well known for my puddings so every now and then I opened what I called 'Shiv's Fundraising Pudding Parlour'. I advertise to my friends on Facebook and Instagram and my work colleagues and bake to order.

I thought Mothers' Day Bags would be a nice idea for people to buy for their mums with a selection of 6 cakes in them. They were really popular! The day after Mother's Day the UK were advised to stop work and isolate if they could. This is when fundraising slowed right down and I was unsure what I was allowed to do with the social distancing rules.

I asked if anyone would be interested in buying baked Easter treats which I could deliver to their doorstep as part of my daily exercise walk. The response was amazing and boosted my fundraising!

I ran on the Sunday the London Marathon was due to take place too. 1 mile of my run was part of a virtual relay marathon that I did with a group of running friends. We're in a team WhatsApp group, the 1st person sent a message when they started and send 'done' or ✔ when they had done their mile and then the next person went and then the next until all 26 had ran their mile (and a 0.2 of course) and a marathon is complete. We didn't see each other, we are all in different areas but we came together as one from afar to run our marathon relay."

When I got the 2.6 challenge email from the NSPCC events team, I really liked the idea and decided to join in. I really liked the idea of doing it on London Marathon day too - as a boost to me as much as anything else!

I borrowed the dinosaur costume from my brother, planned my route around my area using an online route planner and advertised that I was going to be doing it on my local area Facebook group.

I was overwhelmed with the support I received. Lots of people came out to cheer me on which was lovely, I wasn't expecting so many people and it was a real boost - it was hard work running in the costume and very sweaty!

I have been completely overwhelmed by how much money it raised - over £800! I am now only £50 off my target for the London Marathon too! I will definitely consider running in fancy dress again, it was really good fun and people seemed to enjoy it.

I think it raised so much money due to the timing too - people are keen to donate due to current circumstances and wanted to support me and the charity in this way. I'm now planning my next fancy dress idea!

I was due to complete an ultra-marathon for the NSPCC but this was cancelled when social distancing rules were introduced in the UK. I didn't want to stop the cancellation from me doing my challenge in my own way.

Instead, I have decided to run the length of Hadrian's Wall in 2 and a half weeks. Hadrian's Wall is 84 miles long. For reference a single marathon is 26.2 miles!

I'm not a huge fan of running but the NSPCC are still working hard to keep children safe.