"My mum motivated me to run the London Marathon"

Our guest blogger Justine Gould is running the London Marathon 2018 for Crimestoppers. Here she shares her story why her mum was her inspiration for running this year's London Marathon.

What motivated me to run the London Marathon?

My mum.

Back in 2012 I watched her take part and since then we have always said we would run it together. Fast-forward to May 2017, we both applied not imagining that either of us would get a place. In October mum got her acceptance letter, but nothing came for me. Even so, I agreed to train with her so she didn't have to go through it alone. The training was going well, and I wanted to join my mum in the Marathon, so I looked at charity places.

As it happens, I'm a Wiltshire volunteer police cadet leader, and I want to join the police force after I graduate. When I came across Crimestoppers and learnt about how it gives people a way to give information about crime anonymously, I knew it was the charity for me. After a couple of weeks of being in contact with the Crimestoppers Events team, they confirmed my place on 'Team CS'.

"When I came across Crimestoppers and learnt about how it gives people a way to give information about crime anonymously, I knew it was the charity for me."

Why did I chose to run for Crimestoppers?

Because it gives people the option to give information about a crime anonymously.  People can protect their friends, family and the community. It's fantastic for people who think they can't come forward - Crimestoppers keeps their identity a secret.

A couple of years ago my dad's van was broken into and the tools were stolen. No-one called in to say they'd seen anything, so the case was shut. On Tuesday 20th February 2018 two men tried to break into my dad's van again, and this time they were caught in the act. We're afraid they might come back again, though.

Maybe if more people knew about Crimestoppers someone would have been comfortable saying that they know who is breaking into vans in my community. By running for Crimestoppers and telling my story I want to get more awareness for the charity and the hard work they do.

How has the training been?

Training has been tough going! It's been hard to set aside time but we've managed to go out on a few long runs together. Fundraising can be challenging, too, but we recently had a successful event where we sold bacon butties, cakes and had a sales table. We managed to raise £624.20. So far I've raised a total of £1,071.20. I plan on raising the rest of the money through donations from people, my justgiving page, and a cake sale.

Our aim is to finish the race between 5 hours 30 and 6 hours as we do not know what race day will bring with the weather and things. My mum and I hope we can do everyone who has donated, and is going to donate, proud on the day and finish in a respectable time. We will both be glad when the race is here and over with, because then we will have completed our dream of running the London Marathon together!