On Friday 7th November 2003, my sister Jane went to bed with plans for a nice day out in London with her husband the next day. Her 8-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son slept quietly in their rooms. The next morning, she never woke up.

Jane was a fit and healthy 35-year-old. There had been no warning to us that she had a condition that could lead to Sudden Cardiac Death. There is so little awareness that even cardiologists, who mainly deal with coronary heart disease in older people, can fail to spot indications of these conditions. It is estimated that up to 8 young people die a week in the UK due to cardiac abnormalities.

On April 17th, I am running the London Marathon to raise money for the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young). CRY works to increase awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death, provide bereavement support and counselling to victims' families, support medical research and develop a national screening programme. To find out more, please visit their site www.c-r-y.org.uk

For those outside the UK, please be aware that too little is known to the international medical community about Sudden Cardiac Death so sponsoring me and helping fund medical research will be of benefit to people all around the world who have these fatal conditions but do not know it.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Cardiac Risk in the Young will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now! Many thanks for your support. Philip Allen P.S. My sister Katie is also running the London Marathon for CRY in memory of Jane. Please also look at her webpage www.justgiving.com/janeallen ................................................................................................ TRAINING LOG After an unofficial (i.e just the 3 of us) 10K race on Boxing Day with Katie and Tim, I am entering my first full-scale race on Sunday 23rd January in a 10K race at Epsom. Training so far has seen my longer runs increase to 10 miles. Katie and I are also entered for half-marathons in Brighton in February and Silverstone in March. (11/1/05) Today's 10K race in Epsom, run around and across the racecourse, was pretty hilly cross-country and very scenic. Time of 55min 53sec, an improvement on before. My longer training runs have now reached 16 miles. (23/01/05) Katie and I ran the first of two half marathons in our training schedule on Sunday in Brighton: the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon. Great sunny day running along the promenade towards Hove, back past the piers and up along the cliffs the other way. Ran together all the way and crossed the line together in 1 hour 56 min 10 sec. Ran in CRY heart costume and am likely to do the London Marathon in this. (22/02/05) Katie, Tim and I ran the Flora London Half Marathon around Silverstone Grand Prix racetrack yesterday. Up to 10,000 runners packed the start/finish straight as we sped past the grandstand to the Formula 1 theme tune. We held back to try to avoid injuries close to the marathon and finished just over 2 hours. Great circuit to run round. (14/03/05) Too much to say about the whole London Marathon experience to put it all here. It was very hot in costume but great with the crowds and seeing friends and family there to cheer us on. Ran with Katie for 10 miles, then we agreed she should go ahead, as she needed a faster pace with no costume on. Finished in 5 hrs 6 mins 30 secs (12 mins behind Katie). Last mile very emotional with all thoughts of Jane. (20/4/05)