I Did It! I Ran A Whole Half Marathon!

You won’t believe it, because I don’t believe it. But I did it. I ran a whole half marathon. For those wondering, I did it in 2:01:26. I felt like lightning the first half, death through mile 9-10 and happy it was almost over from mile 11.

Death mile 9?

We stayed with our Furst family the night before because Karen was also running. It was so sweet, Will, Warren and the kids ran around and met us at 4 different locations. Karen was wayyyyyy to quick for me but she helped push me along until mile 7, when I couldn’t keep up with her lightning speed anymore. Seeing them on the sidelines put a perk in my step and knowing I wasn’t alone in the run made it easier.

During the death miles 9-10 I had some inspiration to draw from, like family cheering on the sidelines, family and friends who’ve supported me, Will, the charity I was running for and DAVID BECKHAM hotness!

Yes Karen and I spotted him right before the race with his daughter on a scooter. I took this as a lucky sign the race would be a-ok. And it was.

Happier by mile 11?

I’m so thankful for everyone who has supported me and St. Mungo’s during this. I couldn’t have done it without my family and friends. Most of all I raised £535.36!!!!! That’s enough to get a couple of runaways off the streets and into permanent housing, and I couldn’t be happier.

Thanks everyone! That was my one and only half marathon and I’m just so gosh darn happy….

pic with lickity split quick Karen and her friend Susie

It’s over!

Series: The Young and The Homeless- Avoiding The Crack House

Part 2 of my little series on homelessness and today we are going to talk about street-based sex workers and how ridiculously difficult it is for them to access to housing that is not a crack den or some boyfriend/pimps pad. Heavy stuff for this little blog I know, but work with me this week. Next week we’ll get back to design and plumbers cracks.

And if you can spare a penny, pence or yen, this is all to raise some dosh for the charity St. Mungos who I’m running a half marathon for on Sunday. You can donate here

Pretty Woman is not reality and sooo off the mark for lots of street-based sex workers.

First of all, there were no crack dens in the movie? What’s up with that? Street-based women do not normally live in a little two bed flat with electricity. Most live in crack dens, or with abusive partners/pimps. If you had to make a choice between the two, what would you choose?

This is reality

and if you had to spend your evenings selling sex and no where to sleep in the day, you’d be hitting the bottle or something harder too.

You might say, not in the UK. We are a civilised nation that has social housing.

But we don’t. We have been running short of social housing since ‘right to buy.’ While the law is there, its about as useful as tits on a nun. Just because you are homeless or vulnerable and eligible for social housing, does not mean you will be getting it. That’s reality.

If anyone in the UK ever feels the need to learn more about social housing… walk down to your local Homelessness Center. Every local authority has one. You’ll see a queue outside it from 9 am- when it opens at 10. Most people will not be assessed, somehow it seems they find a way to not take your details, because if they do, they may have a legal obligation to provide you with housing.

I once had a Housing Officer refuse to assess one of my domestic violence clients because the woman didn’t have a pen to fill in the form and the Housing Officer wouldn’t give her one. This woman had literally left her home with just her baby and the clothes on her back. She didn’t have a pair of fresh panties, let alone a pen. No pen, meant no assessment. It’s like housing is taught the alphabet …

And if you are lucky enough to get assessed and make it on the waiting list for social housing, don’t think yourself lucky. The list in my borough means you have to wait 18 years. Ha and posh restaurants and day schools think they are exclusive…. Try waiting 18 years for a home.

All of this means the most vulnerable are just out of luck. Many sex workers just return to the abuser or crack den and believe social housing just isn’t an option.

But it could be. St. Mungos has a hostel for women in London, and one for sex working women. It’s a safe place to go while they wait for social housing, and if they wish to exit sex work and get off drugs, they are supported.And if you are a sex worker this is like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

But there are only a couple of these, when in reality London needs 20 of them. So donate now and help street-based sex workers have a place to sleep that isn’t a crack den.

Series: The Young and The Homeless

I’ve decided to start a series to help inspire me while I run this half marathon- because lord knows 13 miles is going to take me 3 hours, and that is a dangerous amount of time to let my brain wonder.

I’m calling the series ‘The Young and the Homeless’ and will remind myself what happens when someone becomes homeless. And why the blisters are worth it. If you think so too you can donate here

So without further ado….

Part 1: The Snow White Problem

The most vulnerable time when a young person runs away is the first 48 hours. Groomers wait by bus stops and near hostels to pick up the runaways. Assholes. They offering things like shelter, food and protection. You know what happens in exchange.

We all learned this when Snow White got picked up by 7 men right after running away.

poor Snow White

Disney knew what they were doing by also giving her groomers stupid names, like Dopey and Doc. I knew a groomer who called himself Tic. I mean, facial hair and stupid names are giveaways for creepsters.

What we could do instead of having these monsters pick up our vulnerable babies is have safe housing for them to go to. Young people are always going to runaway- and lots of them have a really good reason for doing so. Normally it’s abuse at home. Instead of watching them jump into the arms of groomers, we could give them another options for shelter.

Because would you trust this guy?