You may know our baby, Oliver born on 3/11, has a bi-lateral cleft lip and palate and I thought that I should do something to help the people who have already been a huge help to Lucy and myself.

Unfortunately my prefered method of raising funds was to drink beer at the next festival in Reading but I've found that people were not keen on sponsoring me to drink as many pints of Mr Chubbs Lunchtime Bitter as I could with out pause, hesitation or repetition (especially not the third).

So despite swearing that I would never put on a pair of running shoes ever again, and promising myself that the only time I would run along the Oxford Road would be to get to Harput Kebab and Burger before it closed I am back in training, getting ready to stumble around the Reading Half Marathon course.

The plan is to get around the course in less than the 2 hours I took in 2003, despite the fact that I am now older, fatter and wiser.

Please give as much as you can to CLAPA.

Update:

Oliver has had his first surgery and is doing really well, I just wish I could say the same!  My rather optimistic 2 hour target is probably not going to happen, but I'm hopeful that vocal support on the race day will get me around the 13 miles in under 2 1/2 hours, the alternative is that I am going to stash a push bike part way around the course to get a slightly more respectable time.