My Name is Dean Wicks, I am 33 years old and I have been running properly since 2019.
I have never been a skinny lad, but after my dad died in 2009 my weight really piled on, I started my weight loss journey in 2014 with cycling but over the last couple of years running has taken over and I now love it. I now dedicate a lot of time every year to raise money for charity, it helps me to remain focused on keeping the weight off or down and also helps me focus on making my dad proud. To date I have lost over 7 stone and raised over £9000!
I was fortunate enough to have got a charity place in the 2020 London Marathon, but due to the COVID 19 pandemic obviously that was put on hold!
This didn’t stop my fundraising efforts, I ran the full 26.2 miles up and down my 8m long patio (5271 times!) On the 26th April 2020
I then ran the Virtual London Marathon on 4thOctober as they had to completely postpone the Marathon until 2021!
Because of the huge losses charitites had suffered I wanted to do more than “just” the Marathon for 2021, so I came up with the idea of Running Every Single Day of the year, a minimum of 5K! But to make it a little harder, I also decided I wanted to hit 2021 miles for the year.
On top of this I took on my very first Ultra Marathon in July (50k) and in August, I ran for 12 hours to celebrate my Dads birthday and mark 12 years since he died. I covered 55.4 miles during this!
Kidney Research UK is a charity close to my heart and i have raised money for these in previous years with other events due to my Dad having a kidney transplant many years ago and more recently, after one of my brothers became quite ill, finding out his kidneys had failed, the rest of my brothers (i have 5 in total) to be tested for the disease, unfortunately the tests came back to show that 3 of us suffer from kidney disease, and 3 of us are clear, fortunately i am one of the lucky ones. My younger brother Kyle, who’s kidneys failed in 2010 is still receiving dialysis 3 days a week and has struggled to get on the transplant list. Fingers crossed this year is his year!
I cannot wait to get to the start line of the London Marathon on the 3rd of October, a race I feel I have waited forever to do! Plus the week after, I get to take on a Run Through Event in my home town!! The Colchester Stampede Half Marathon which is an added bonus!
Now to find a couple more challenges to see me through to the end of the year!
If anyone would like to follow my journey, I’m on Instagram @runner.dean and if anyone would like to donate some pennies, my fundraising page is www.virginmoneygiving.com/DeanWicks2