Run Britain Day 149: From Brora to ‘why Samaritan’s?’

I decided to run the coastline of Britain before I decided to raise money for the Samaritans. 

This was, first and foremost, a mission of celebrating Britain. Of doing something positive as an antidote to the bad things happening in the world. 

But a mission this big deserves a fundraising target and when I thought about which charity I would raise money for, the answer was obvious. The charity that I honestly believe saved my life.

Today, I have had the honour of sharing some miles with a Samaritan. One of the amazing volunteers who, every week, is on the end of the phone for people in crisis. 

I’ve leant on the Samaritans a lot, but today I have learnt more about what it is like to be on the other end of the phone. Volunteers are there for people when they are at their worst, but they also have to put up with a lot of nuisance and miss-use call. There’s admin as well. Responding to the email service can eat into a three hour shift. And once every six weeks, they undertake a night shift, which is six hours spent answering calls to the most desperate people. 

It takes a special kind of person to volunteer. The kind of person who will travel all the way from Edinburgh to the windy north east coast of Scotland to do some running with a stranger. 

I was so grateful for Katie’s company today. We ran together for 38km, which made the day fly by. I managed to complete the marathon distance in the afternoon, partly using the campervan as a wind break. 

I am also so grateful for all the Samaritans volunteers, especially those who were on the end of the phone for me. I’ll never know who they are and I doubt they will ever know what they did for me. 

But I hope you all know that you are amazing.