A Southport solicitor will pound the pavements of London in April to raise money for Metabolic Support UK.

Rebecca Dawson, will run her first marathon on Sunday, April 28. Her partner Dean Kelly will be running with her for the same charity.

Although Rebecca got a place through the ballot, she knew of the great work that Metabolic Support UK does and wanted to raise money for them.

Rebecca said: “Even though I got a ballot place and didn’t need to get sponsorship, I felt that if I was going to put myself through this, I should try to raise some money for a good cause at the same time.

“The charity supports those born with inherited metabolic diseases and their families. There are hundreds of these disorders and they are rare and complex which means that it can take a long time for a diagnosis to be made. I want to help raise awareness and funds to expand new-born screening that could help to reduce a child’s suffering, and hopefully lead to treatment before it is too late.”

Rebecca is following the Virgin London Marathon 16 week training plan and at the start of the plan she was able to do all the runs quite comfortably but is starting to struggle now that the distances have got much longer.

Rebecca added: “At first, I was finding the training relatively easy but that has changed recently as the distances and length on my feet has increased massively. I am now running distances of 30km and it is hard, both mentally and physically.

“After two hours, I am struggling to concentrate and keep my focus. One half of my brain tells me to go home and get warm and dry, the other half tells me to push on. Knowing that people are supporting us both with sponsorship and willing us to do well really helps motivate us while providing much needed funds to this really worthy cause.

“We are really grateful for all the sponsorship – it really keeps us going!”

To support Rebecca with her fundraising, visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com