I'm a Brit from London but have made Southern California my home for 17 years now. I'm an adventurous type and love the outdoors. I'm most at home in the mountains or on the trails or camping in my little teardrop trailer with my pack. 

I turned the big 5-0 early last year, and it really got me thinking about how I wanted to spend the second stage of my life. I refuse to slow down! I want to make the biggest impact with the time I have left. This year, to celebrate my 13th year working for Best Friends, I wanted to do something to give back to the organization that has given me so much over the years. Animals have always been my No. 1 passion, so to be able to make a living while saving them has truly been a blessing. 

Before joining Best Friends, I worked in a municipal shelter for three years, and it was the hardest — but most rewarding — three years of my life. Working in a shelter is like being on a rollercoaster for 10 hours a day. You have the ultimate high when you send a dog home with a loving family; you feel relief when a cat caregiver comes in to pick up that freshly spayed community cat who's spent most of her life pregnant. But every day you also look into the eyes of all the innocent, abandoned animals who aren't going to make it out of the shelter alive. Whenever I have a “meh” day, I think about all those animals whom I couldn't save and all the ones who still need saving. We have come a long way, but we're still not quite there yet. I want to be able to look back to a time in history and say I helped make that happen: I changed the world for animals. 

I found running in high school and loved the solitude of long runs and the feeling of accomplishment it brought. In 2008 I joined a local running club and trained for my first marathon. I finished the race in a very respectable time and raised almost $5,000 for the animals at the shelter. It was supposed to be a one-and-done, but like Forrest Gump, I just kept running. Over the next 10 years I ran 23 marathons, including two Bostons (which you have to qualify for), countless halves, 10Ks, 5Ks, mud runs, and Ragnar Relays. I said yes to everything! I even travelled to race in far-flung places like Cuba, Costa Rica, Croatia, and Jamaica.  

In 2019 I was sidelined with bone spurs in my heels, and by 2022, I was barely lacing up. I felt defeated whenever I said to people "I used to be a marathon runner," but I just couldn't find my mojo again. Since I signed up for the G2G I've been lacing up more than ever. This is my comeback year! My days of pounding the unforgiving pavements for 26.2 miles might be over, but the softer surface of the trail and the Jeff Galloway Run Walk Run program will see me through it. I'm doing the G2G ultimately for the animals. But in many ways it's saving me too from not having to say, "I used to be a marathon runner..." Instead, the conversation will go something like, "I'm an Ultra runner; I completed the hardest race in the world."