On Sunday 14 October 2012, my brother Pete, our two friends Lee and Sophie and I will be flying to China to walk the Great Wall in memory of Pete’s best friend James Buckle who lost his battle to bowel cancer at the age of 28.

The day we fly will be 1 year and 1 day since we lost James.

James lived with Pete and was diagnosed with bowel cancer in February 2011 at just 27. I know most people reading this will have partied with James and Pete at some point but if you never got to meet him, the hundreds of tributes posted on his Facebook page will tell you what a true legend he was and how many lives he touched.

Pete and I wanted to do something truly awesome in James’ memory to help raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK, but most importantly raise awareness about the disease, as if it’s caught early enough it can be treated and in most cases beaten.

James was so full of life and loved travelling, running, cycling and body boarding/surfing so we have tried to incorporate as much of that as possible into our fundraising and the Great Wall of China Trek is the sort of thing James would have loved.

We really wanted to do a big push for the fundraising so, on top of the Great Wall of China Trek, I have already run the Edinburgh Marathon, the Great North Run and, with family and friends, Pete and I paddled 22 miles on surfboards - the equivalent of the English Channel! Two days after we return from China, I will also be running the Worksop Half Marathon – in Halloween fancy dress!

Please help us smash our £3500 target and raise awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer so it can be caught and treated before it's too late.

The dates for each event are:

Sunday 27th May 2012 - Edinburgh Marathon - COMPLETE!
Saturday 1st September 2012 - Paddle the Channel - COMPLETE!
Sunday 16th September 2012 - Great North Run - COMPLETE!
14th - 25th October 2012 - Great Wall of China Trek
Saturday 28th October 2012 - Worksop Half Marathon

I will be tweeting (@NikiNom) and posting updates on my blog (www.realrunning.co.uk) throughout my training and through each challenge and I would love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for visiting our fundraising page, we really do appreciate all the support.

Niki & Pete x

**Update** So, the Edinburgh Marathon is over. It was without a doubt one of the most physically difficult things I think I've ever done! All seemed to be going well until around 18 miles when I think I hit the infamous 'wall'. The rest was a blur. I finally finished, exhausted and very emotional but so happy that I had reached my goal. A HUGE thank you so the massive support I had from everyone on facebook / twitter / text / phone / generally everywhere! You've all been amazing and I can't thank you enough for all the donations and good wishes. I am really touched.

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