I'm going to run a half-marathon.  This shouldn't be as funny as it sounds.  But on Sunday October 11th, I'll be participating in the London Royal Parks Half-Marathon.  The course starts at the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, then winds over 21 kilometres along The Embankment to Blackfriars Bridge and back, through St. James Park, Green Park, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park as it goes.  Picturesque, no doubt.  I intend to run all of it, and have been working for some months to achieve a fitness with which this will be doable.

Through this effort I'm raising money for Brainstrust - a charity provides care and support to sufferers and survivors of brain tumours.  The importance of such organisations was apparent to me when my brother-in-law passed away from cancer this time last year, after a long and difficult period of treatment and uncertainty.

So please support me in my endeavour to complete the course and to raise money for this worthy cause.

Remember: This will be the single longest sustained physical effort of my entire life.  I am going to run 13 miles, or 21 kilometres in this new-fangled French system.