Steve Roberts runs Loch Ness

In April 2017 my Nana passed away - as well as suffering from dementia she had stomach cancer. In her final days she spent a lot of it in a lot of pain and she could not always remember why. When I asked my mum how she died just before the funeral she told me what had happened and how lost she felt not being help her with all the pain. All she could do was to be there for her by her side. The fact that in this day and age someone can still suffer so much makes my heart break, but there is only so much the medical professionals can do. I have always done what can to support Cancer Research UK and those who participate in raising money for them. After hearing how much my Nana suffered I wanted to do more - I wanted to make sure I did more so that others would not have to suffer how my Nana did. In May 2017 I saw a TV commercial for the Walking All Over Cancer challenge - Most fundraising challenges I've seen have, for the most part, been for running, but I was never a runner, but walking I could do. It had been 20 years since I last did any proper amount of walking or hiking and back then I was not 23 stone in weight! On a day at home I would only walk 50 steps and on a busy day providing tech support around the office it could be up to 1,000 steps - so for me doing 10,000 steps each and every day of June was to be a HUGE challenge. I raised over £1,000 Walking All Over Cancer, but after completing the 10,000 steps a day challenge and walking approximately 150 miles in June 2017, the state of the eczema on my feet, my allergies and sinuses were so bad that I kept putting off going back outside. I was even postponing meeting with my personal trainer week after week. I was supposed to have been meeting with him to train to run a 5km race for summer 2018. Running a 5km Race for Life was my sister-in-law's suggestion for a bigger challenge after the 10,000 steps a day to raise more money for Cancer Research UK. Before I knew it, it was mid-September and I was still postponing most of my training sessions. My feet and head were still a mess. I had asked my 10-year-old son what he wanted to do for the October half term week - I had booked off the entire week to spend with him. His reply was "I'm happy to cuddle up and watch TV with you all week". This is not want you want to hear your child aspire to do for the entire week off! I knew he said that because he knew staying indoors was preferable to me. Managing my dust allergy was far easier than dealing with the problems the pollens, dust, pollution and temperatures can cause with my hay fever and sinuses. But I've never wanted to be the parent that said, "Do as I say, not as I do!", I knew I had to change what I did, set a better example. It was then that I signed up to run the Colchester Half Marathon at the end of March 2018. It didn't matter to me that I had not run since about 1995 nor that my feet and head were still in a lot of pain from just walking throughout June. It did not matter that I was cutting my preparation time down by 4 months and quadrupling the distance I'd be running. I joined my local parkrun for the first time at the end of September. Walking the 5km for the first few weeks is all I could manage. My first time it took me 51 minutes to walk it! I kept attending parkrun and by the last Saturday in October 2018 I managed to run small parts of the 5km - my first time running since the 90s! I only had a few months to train to run 13.1 miles around Colchester, so by the end of November, I had also started attending my local running club. With the support from those at parkrun, my running club plus family and friends, I did it, I ran the Colchester Half Marathon along with several others from work and we raised £1.5k for Cancer Research UK. But I wanted to continue to raise money for this great cause, I wanted to continue to set a good example to my son. So, I signed up to run a full Marathon that would take place 1 week before my first anniversary of WALKING my first 5km parkrun! I signed up to run the Loch Ness Marathon. Before September 2017 I'd not done any proper exercise for over two decades. My weight, allergies, sinus problems and eczema kept me inside and in pain; but despite all this, I am running the Loch Ness marathon on September 23rd. Since starting to run, I may have lost 3.5 stone, but I am still obese and getting from Couch to Marathon within a year is a big challenge. I've been training hard and I will continue to train hard. Even though these recent high temperatures we've been having, I'm currently running about 25 miles a week. In the first six months of 2018, I've already run 470 miles! Not bad for someone who only last September struggled to walk 5km! But I've still got a long way to go before running 26.2 miles and about 1,000ft of elevation gain at the Loch Ness Marathon this September. Suffering from my own health problems that I've already mentioned, the running has caused me a lot of pain; however, I will not let that stop me. Whatever suffering I am going through is nowhere near the level of suffering my Nana and others like her felt... I will push through it, I will continue. Why do I continue? As well as setting a good example to my son, we've probably all had family and/or friends that have suffered from and even died from some sort of cancer. In the 1970's the UK cancer survival rate was 1 in 4, today it is 2 in 4 - I want to help make that number higher. My aim is to raise £2,000. Can you help me to raise money to help beat cancer sooner? If you are unable to help financially, please share my link and my story. Even sponsoring small amounts will help me get closer to my target. You could even sponsor me a small amount each month - as they say, every little helps. Thank you for reading my story and sponsoring me. Steve