Hi,

This will be my first ever half marathon and in fact the first time I have ever run 13 miles so please bear that in mind when you come to donate! Worse still, having only started running regularly in January, it is only 7 weeks since I decided to give the half marathon a go. The photo above is from a 5k (less than a quarter of the distance) and I still look like I'm about to collapse.

This whole endeavour flies in the face of medical opinion, where the advice (based on my 80 year old man's legs) has been somewhere between outright giggles and a recommendation that I should limit myself to running 10k races as a maximum. Medical opinion is of course nonsense.

Anyway, your donations will be the focus that ensures I finish the course (I hope) and I really appreciate you taking the time. The money will go to the official race charity, the Speyside Trust who provide respite care and outdoor activity holidays for children and adults with special needs. You can see more details here - http://www.respitecareatbadaguish.org/

I hope you agree that this is a really worthwhile charity and (based on a belief in medical opinion) you are happy to donate generously. Thanks,

Richard.