Seaford school teacher running 874 miles to raise money for mental health charity

Samantha Alvarez, 52, is running 874 miles in 30 days to increase awareness of mental health and raise money for national charity MIND.

Samantha said: “I work as one of the directors in Uckfield College sixth form and it's really difficult to get the young people the support that they need.

“The waiting list is so long and really the only children that can get help are the ones whose parents can afford private councillors.”

Samantha has also struggled with her own mental health throughout her life and wants to use the challenge as an opportunity to create change and help people get the support they need.

She said: “When I hit the menopause it made my mental health much worse and that’s when I went to the doctor.

“It was very easy to access antidepressants, but very difficult to get counselling, it’s just a nightmare to get the help that you need.

“That’s what drives me, to create change for normal people to access the support that they need, like you would if you had any other illness.”

Samantha aimed to raise £1000 and knew she would have to do ‘something crazy’ to raise that amount of money.

Having always been a keen runner, the Uckfield College teacher had taken on previous extreme challenges such as a 12 and 24 hour continuous run.

Because of this, she decided this running challenge would be most appropriate fundraiser for her.

She explained: “I’ve always ran as an adult, I've been a member of running clubs and I'm quite good at it.

“It’s a very supportive environment and it’s good for your mental health so that’s the connection. I find that through running I've made most of my closest friends.

“Running is how I manage my own mental health as an adult. So I thought it was best to do a running challenge.”

Samantha started the challenge on July 22 and ran 62 miles in eleven hours.

Since then, she has run for six hours a day along the seafront - clocking in around 30 miles each time.

When asked why she was doing the challenge solely in Seaford, Samantha said: “It would be a logistical nightmare and involve too many people to do it for real.

"By doing it in Seaford it has a lot of benefits in which I can come home, shower, eat and include lots of my friends.

“Because of this, everyday I see six or seven people on average a day coming down to help me in some way.

"I’ve got the back-up and it’s been really really supportive because I have the friendship side of it.

“I’ve got to know so many people up and down that seafront who stop and ask me what am I doing.”

The 52-year-old has had to overcome many obstacles since starting the challenge - such as having to start at 4am during the heatwave and wearing compression socks to manage the stress fracture which had formed in her shin.

However, she is still going and looks set to complete the challenge by August 22.

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So far, Samantha has smashed her target, with her JustGiving page having raised £2,095 so far.

To donate to Samantha’s cause click here