In a moment of madness, I have signed up for this year’s Flora London Marathon. I am raising money for the Norwood charity which provides support for children and families coping with learning disabilities and social disadvantage. Norwood relies on raising £8m in voluntary funding and the Marathon plays a crucial part in this.

The Marathon is 26.2 miles. The last time I ran a competitive race, it was 35 years ago in a 3-mile school cross country - and even then I managed to “accidentally” omit the last mile. This will therefore not be an easy challenge and so I have already set to work with a very prescriptive 16 week schedule to get race fit. This involves jogging twice a week, cycling twice a week, fast runs once a week and a long run at the weekend. To make matters harder, most of this training is taking place at six in the morning when most sane people are still asleep. Unfortunately you are unable to help me with my training schedule but where you can help is by sponsoring me by making a donation to Norwood in order to help me raise sponsorship of at least £2,500.

All the money I raise shall go directly to support the families and I really would appreciate your generous help in reaching this target.

Thank you in anticipation of your support.

Kind regards

Paul Huberman