By Steve K.

Recovery, for me, involves setting myself healthy challenges. It also involves taking part in community activities, being of service and giving back to others, showing gratitude, and importantly, taking care of and putting effort into my health and well-being. In relation to my health, I started regularly running my local Parkrun event (a community 5k run) in October last year. Running is good for health in general, and is especially beneficial for mental well-being. I wanted to capitalise on my new health activity by setting myself some goals and using these challenges to benefit others at the same time.

Writing recovery related articles and posts and maintaining this website over the last 8 years has also been very beneficial for my recovery, and has hopefully helped others too. At least that’s been my intention. 12 Step Philosophy is viewed thousands of times a month by readers from all over the world. Since starting the website in 2015, it’s been visited hundreds of thousands of times. I regularly receive emails from people in recovery saying that my writing has been helpful to them or asking me for advice. This is very gratifying and meaningful to me. While the site doesn’t cost me a lot to run financially, I have invested much time and effort into it and have personally grown in the process. If you’ve been a regular visitor to my website, or have been helped in anyway by my writing, please can you consider making a small donation towards my half marathon running challenge on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Society outlined below:

Personal Appeal/Challenge

Please support my fundraising efforts for the Alzheimer’s Society. A worthwhile UK charity that advocates on behalf of and raises funds for people suffering with Alzheimer’s Disease. My mum, who’s 82 yrs old, has been suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease for about 10 years. It’s been difficult to watch her slowly deteriorate, and she now has advanced dementia and lives in a local care home. 

My challenge is to complete the Great Manchester Run (Half Marathon) in May and hopefully raise some money for the Alzheimer’s Society in the process. This is not an easy challenge for me as I only started regularly running a few months ago at age 57. I currently run the local Parkrun on Saturday mornings which is a distance of 5k (3.1 miles). I aim to progress my running over the next few months to be able to complete the 13.1-mile half marathon course in Manchester (UK) on the 21st May 2023. I’ve also committed to completing the Wilmslow Running Festival 10k (6.2 miles) on March 26th as part of my challenge and to help with my training. 

Despite my own physical limitations, I’ve started running to help with my overall health, particularly my mental health and wellbeing. Hopefully, setting the above goals will motivate me to maintain and progress my running and help those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

Thank you for your support!

JustGiving Fundraising Page