“The most mindful activity I do is running”

In 2022, Dorrie ran for OTR in the Bristol Half Marathon and raised a whopping £390 for us. Here they talk a little bit about why and how they did it. 

Why are you fundraising for OTR?

OTR has supported me loads over the last year. It has done me so much good especially with all the people I have met at Freedom, we hang out outside of OTR.

OTR made me feel really supported – finding Freedom was an accident, I came to the Hub on a Saturday wanting to sign up for OTR Sounds and Henry from Freedom was there. I said I was kind of interested in Freedom as well, and OTR Sounds was booked up on that day so we started talking and I was like – that sounds really cool, so I decided to sign up.

I have learnt so much from Freedom, it’s super educational but in a fun way, and I have been able to go to loads of cool and important events, like we went on a protest, theatre tickets sometimes pop up – it has been great – Freedom are awesome. I have always been quite comfortable with my queerness, my family are very accepting and supportive, but like I guess I have had stuff going on with my mental health like everyone does and just sometimes it is cool knowing that Freedom are OTR people who have backgrounds in working in mental health and they have been able to offer skills and expertise to support me.

Did you run before you did the Bristol Half and does it help with your mental health?

It massively helps with my mental health, absolutely, when you are running all you can think about is your lungs and your limbs and that’s it! It’s kind of like mindfulness in a weird way, I have never been able to get to grips with mindfulness – the most mindful activity I do is running. There’s no space for brain mess, everything falls into running, it does me loads of good, I started running in April. I never really liked exercise or sport or running, so I started with the couch to 5k and I just caught the running bug, and worked my way up to do the Bristol Half for OTR.