23rd April

I made it!!!! 4 hours and 2 minutes!!!! I had originally hoped to break the magic 4 hours but a late knee and groin strain rather spoilt the plan.

It was a great day, sunny, warm and London at its best and I enjoyed all of it (with the possible exception of the last 6 miles which were a hell on earth!)

Massive thanks to all my sponsors for helping me reach such a massive target of fundraising - I know that the money raised will make a huge, huge difference so THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!

25th March 2012

Today I ran 20 miles in  2 hours and 55 minutes - it was a glorious day, blue sky, cool and not even a breath of wind! I have just flown back from a week in Melbourne where I did no training at all and too much partying! So the guilt of an exercise free week spurred me on. Less than a month to go and I must say I can't wait until its over!

I have been confirmed as an Olympic Torchbearer in July which makes me very proud but I can link that activity to Hope for Children because of the LOCOG rules - boo!

I need another £2,500 to meet my target so if you can then please do chip in a few pounds to help me hit the target - believe me its easier than running 26.2 miles!

20th Feb

I ran the Eton Dorney Half Marathon on Saturday and did a new pb of 1hr 46mins and 16seconds - was very pleased with that since I had a bit of bug and wasn't entirely sure that I would make it round! Great that the weather is set to improve this week, that should really help the training as the big day gets closer and closer.

30th Jan

18 miles yesterday, a new record and I managed to keep going at the same pace - if i could keep going like that then the sub-4hr dream would come true!! I am now seeing an osteo/masseuse to keep my body holding together till the big day and it does seem to be working. Now I just need to find new and creative ways to raise the remaining money for my £10,000 target!

10th January

OK Christmas hasn't done too much damage to my training, but I did manage to hurt my knee on my Christmas eve and New Years eve runs so had to take it easy for a while. All better now and getting back to the plan for my sub 4 hour marathon. Luckily the weather has been pretty mild so early morning runs aren't quite as tough as they could be.

Hope for Children have agreed that all my fundraising will go directly to the Namuwongo health project in Uganda - the project is really simple, it is buying and distributing worming tablets to children, basically if a child gets worms from the poor sanitation and water, then the worms eat their food and the child starves and gets ill and may even die - so if they get a tablet - they live - simple! I want to raise enough to pay for this whole project so anything you can do to help would be brilliant!

5th December

Its getting colder out there!! I am now up to 15.1miles in my training and am managing that distance in 2 hours and 9 minutes which is about on target I guess. My willpower has been waning a little on the weightloss front and I have been indulging in the odd pizza, curry etc. Hopefully as i continue to increase the mileage that will offset the food! It is Christmas after all! Did a press release in the South Bucks Star last week and loads of people saw it - it will be in the "Village Voice" in Feb as well!

Happy Christmas to all and thanks for your support

30th Oct Update - so far so good, have lost 10kg, been a month with no booze and increased my speed from 5hr marathon pace to 4hr marathon pace! Thanks for the donations so far - will keep you updated on progress....

Hello Friends, Family, Colleagues et al,

OK so there are thousands of people after your cash all the time and its a bit overwhelming - I totally agree with you, sometimes its a right pain

So why I have joined the ranks of the annoying folk? Well its mainly because of my kids - Noah, Eddie, Rocco and Toby. They are very lucky little boys, we have a nice house, good schools, loving parents who love eachother (aaaahhhh)

There are lots and lots of kids out there with the opposite however - no parents at all, not enough to eat and drink, no chance of an education, likely to get ill and maybe die at a young age. Frankly I cant live with that knowledge and not doing a little bit to at least TRY and help.

So my little bit is to try and raise £2000 between now and the end of the 2012 London Marathon to support Hope for Children which is a great charity doing specific projects to help children in some of the most disadvantaged places in the world.

What I like about them is they do not have big overheads and costs in the charity so the money actually goes to where it needs to go - I like that.

So please chip in if you share my view that we are pretty lucky by contrast to many in the world - do a little bit and things will get a little bit better - its not much I know but its better than nothing at all.

Here is the JustGiving bit....

David

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.