After breaking my collarbone in two places the only way to recover is sign up for two marathons in one month to raise money for Refuge UK.

So the really short version of this is sponsor me here to run The Brighton Half Marathon in February, Brighton Marathon at beginning of April and London Marathon for the end of April raising money for Refuge UK! https://www.justgiving.com/page/0n1ydan5

There will also be a series of online safety and cyber security videos produced and released here
https://www.youtube.com/@0n1ydan5_ If you like those provide a tip on the Just Giving page too!

But if you want to know why………

Does any one remember 3.5 years ago when I started OnlyDans? No, not like that (although I did have an OnlyFans account for a small time)! OnlyDans was a collection of videos where I ran or built flatpack furniture with a huge smattering of innuendo? No? Fair enough, I barely do remember it myself, but feel free to find the OnlyDans story on my Instagram page, if you need reminding.

Get to the point mate…..

OK! OK! Well, firstly, having spent 7.5 months recovering from breaking my collarbone in two places, I’ve had a lot of time to think. Think about wanting to get back into fitness, think about the weight I’ve piled on, but also think about the disgusting way generally men treat women in society.

We MUST do better.

We hear more and more about domestic violence and sexual assault on women.

1 in 4 women will experience some form of domestic abuse.

One woman is murdered every 5 days by a current or former partner.

Around 770,000 children witness domestic abuse each year.

Refuge UK (2024)

However, we shouldn’t need vast numbers for us men to act and try to change the situation. One assault is one too many.

You can’t change the world but you can influence your sphere.

I am under no illusion that anyone can change the world. Only the world can change by all of us pushing together to make change. But we don’t have to tolerate jokes made in front of us when they’re at the expense of others, especially when filled with hatred. We can call out that group of boys that are picking on that girl. We can demand better from those we say every day.

We can also support those doing good.

And yes…. we can support the charities that help those in desperate need. Those that are helping women and children escape domestic violence, sexual assault and other horrors inflicted by men.

I will also caveat that some women do engage in assault. I know this first hand. Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre states 1 in 18 men experience sexual assault after 16. The reason why I am focussing on the assault of women is that the same stats say that 1 in 4 women are raped after 16, 86% of women between 18 and 24 have been sexually harassed in public, and 9 out of 10 girls and young women have been sexually harassed (including being sent unsolicited imagery) at school.

The issue for women and girls is far greater, I would argue institutionalised, and needs to stop. The only way it can stop is to educate and prevent men and boys from exhibiting these disgusting behaviours.

So who and how are we supporting?

I am supporting a charity that I have seen do good work with a problem I’ve seen all my life. From seeing a woman appear on my front door step as a child, escaping her partner covered in blood,to others wanting to escape abusive partners. That charity is Refuge UK.

Having run the London Marathon in 2023 for Asthma + Lung UK, I wanted to do something a bit more special this time, hopefully raising £5000 for them by this time in 2025.

Although I’m still building the muscle and bone is backfilling until November 2024, I am able to run with my collarbone again. If I fall, that may complicate things so will take things steady for now. So I begin officially training today.

Training for what though? I have pledged to run the Brighton Half-Marathon in March 2025, the Brighton Marathon in early April 2025, and the London Marathon at the end of April 2025. Running the London Marathon is the furthest I’ve ever run and that took a lot out of me. I honestly don’t know if I can even complete this, but that’s what we will aim to find out. I hope you can donate towards this by going here https://www.justgiving.com/page/0n1ydan5

Further to this, I would love to give some advice on online safety and cybersecurity, and general safety too. I think so much advice tends to deal in absolutes and if you’re in these situations, it’s not always the best. I am by no means an expert so will be inviting guests that are hugely experienced in their fields to chat and give advice, who are far better than me. That’s where 0n1ydan5 comes in!

We will be bringing back our cheeky alter ego to provide cybersecurity and online safety advice in the only way we know how! I hope it’s entertaining and most of all useful. Don’t worry the image to the left shows as risque as it gets. Despite the name, the videos will be clothed!

The first episode will be released in August and we hope to do at least one a month! If you like the videos then please do tip via the (yup you guessed it) Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/page/0n1ydan5

Also if you’d like to follow my running and other 0n1ydan5 exploits then please follow my special Twitter account here and also my generic Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/dan_j_conn/

That’s All

So that it! I hope you enjoy coming on this journey and you can donate to this awesome cause over the next year. And if you can’t then please support by liking, sharing, subscribing the various content on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. I really hope this is a success and we have a lot of money for Refuge UK that they can help to prevent domestic violence against women and children.

Just for reference, here is where you money will go:

• £10 could help us provide children’s essentials like toothpaste and Calpol staying in a refuge
  
• £15 could give a woman arriving at a refuge the essentials she needs for her first night.
  
• £25 could buy food supplies, toiletries and cleaning products to help a family stay safe and healthy.
  
• £40 could buy new clothes for a survivor who was forced to flee to a refuge with only the clothes she was wearing

If we raise the full £5000 through donations and assuming that each woman may need a change of clothes, essentials and food, that’s 55 women we can help by donating here.

Thanks for reading.
Dan
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