27-year-old Alan Hall from Hackney Wick chose to run this year’s London Marathon for United Response when he found out that we support people with schizophrenia and learning disabilities:

Someone very dear to me in my life suffers from schizophrenia and we’re incredibly grateful to the people that helped us during our hardest times.

I’d like to make sure that other families in the future can have the support they need to get through the trials and tribulations that come with supporting someone.

Growing up, Alan’s Mum used to be a nurse for people with learning disabilities and Down syndrome:

That’s another reason why I wanted to run for United Response. Mum really loved that job and I saw how much that work meant to her. I’d like to give back to your staff who are doing similar jobs.

Training for the marathon

Alan is an actor and voiceover artist who also works at a cinema in Soho. He explained how he’s made his mental and physical wellbeing more of a priority in recent years:

I take good care of myself. I’ve been sober for a few years, I regularly have therapy sessions, meditate and go on runs with my friends.

Alan hasn’t run a full marathon before, but because he’s been running since he was a teenager, he feels confident that he can go the distance. Last year his friends encouraged him to take the plunge and sign up for the London Marathon. He’ll be running on the day with his close friend Gabriel.

Signing up to the London Marathon was definitely a jump into the unknown and there’s a lot of faith involved. I’m confident at the distances I’ve run so far and I’m gradually building up with my training and so I feel like it should be doable.

From left: Alan and Gabriel

He currently uses the Nike Run Club mobile app for his training, which prompts him to cover a certain amount of distance over the week

Fundraising

Alan’s already reached the halfway mark with his fundraising, just from sharing his JustGiving page on social media:

I’m incredibly grateful for all the support from my friends and family. I’m really touched.

To help reach his target, he’s set himself the challenge of writing a play in 26.2 hours – something his friend Kieran did to raise money last year:

I was terrified but I agreed to do it.

It was a comedy, so in the moments when we didn’t quite know what we were doing next as actors and found ourselves looking like lemons or stumbling over our lines, it just added to the comic effect because everyone was aware this had only just been thought up.

Plus, if you did stumble over something, one of the other actors would bail you out and it would lead to a new funny moment being improvised on the spot. It worked out really well in the end so I said I’d do it this year… But I’m more nervous about that than the Marathon!

We’re so proud of all our amazing TCS London Marathon runners and we can’t wait to cheer you on in April!

Donate to Alan’s JustGiving page here
  • Jenna Lloyd is Senior Content Officer for United Response.