Those of you who know me know that running is not one of my favourite things. At times I would say I really, really dislike it – hate is maybe too strong a word. However, there is one thing that I do hate – Alzheimer Disease. My family watched over the last 14 years as this terrible disease robbed my Dad of his memories. He slowly forgot that he was a great-grandfather, grandfather, father and was in danger of forgetting that he was a husband. Despite this Mum cared every day for the man she has been married to for almost 62 years. It wasn't always easy and the help she received from Alzheimer Scotland was a lifeline. Sadly Dad died very suddenly in January. So in his memory I have decided to raise some money for Alzheimer Scotland who have provided advice and support when we needed it most.

I know that lots of people are asking you to help them raise money for many very worthy causes and in order to persuade you to part with your hard earned cash I need to do something worth sponsoring. So in 2017 I am setting myself a real challenge by running a race in every major city in Scotland – Perth, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Stirling and probably Perth again (i.e. The PEDIGASP). With Lyndsey Thomson Personal Trainer on hand to provide advice, encouragement and a training programme and Ali Findlay Massage Therapy to ease my aching limbs how can I fail?

At the moment I have signed up for the Inverness, Edinburgh and Aberdeen half marathons and the Glasgow 10K. My real challenge will be finding a race in Stirling as I think the Marathon is a step too far!

If you would like to sponsor my efforts you can do so on my Just Giving page. I will keep you posted on progress detailing all my moans & complaints as I struggle through training and each race. Thanks in advance for your support 