Mt Difficulty Marathon for mental health

On the 8th of June I will be running the Mt Difficulty marathon in Cromwell, fortunately i'll be doing this with my cousin who also wants to endure this race. I have never even run a half marathon so this will be a significant challenge (to put it mildly), not only will this be my first ever marathon but for those who aren't familiar with the course it is rather hilly and thus will be looking more like an 8-9 hour marathon. (the race profile can be found here: https://mtdifficultyascent.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/mt-diff-marathon.png)

I am choosing to do this race because I suffer from general anxiety disorder and depression and during some low points over the last year or two i have used the services provided by Lifeline Aoteroa and The Mental Health Foundation New Zealand and they have been exceptional, in short i want to be able to give something back. Not only this, but whilst i can say that I now have more better days than bad ones I want to achieve a life goal of running a marathon and prove to myself and any others who may be in a similar situation that you can still complete your goals in the face of mental illness.

I am aiming to raise much needed funding for two mental health charities: Lifeline Aotearoa and The Mental Health Foundation. New Zealand like the UK has increasing rates of mental illness and services are struggling to match an exponential increase in demand. Lifeline Aotearoa has a 24/7 suicide hotline to help people when they are at the lowest point in life, assisting them to remain calm and rational and to not make a devastating decision. On average Lifeline receive a call every 5 minutes, they help so many people day in and day out. The Mental Health Foundation New Zealand offers an enormous variety of resources to help people that are going through a period of mental distress or loved ones who are concerned about somebody else. The Mental Health foundation also provide a hotline for people who are distressed.

Cheers,

Joe