Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Just to give you a little bit of background on the ambitious task I am undertaking. This is a 152mile race across the Sahara desert run over 6 days, with the longest stretch some 50 miles in one day!! I appreciate that this may smack of a self-indulgent mid-life crisis, but it has been a long standing dream of mine. Runners have to carry all their own food, sleeping bag, but thankfully not tent, as well as water for each stage of the race. There will be no hot bath at the end of each day as we sleep in open-ended Berber tents, not that sleep is likely to be an issue.

With less than five weeks before I depart, the event itself is clearly in sight. To date I have run approx 1,500 miles in training, which equates to some 55 full marathons!! Whilst I am upping the mileage week by week I also have to be careful to avoid any injuries at this late stage. My weekly totals have now peaked at 80 miles but will be reduced in the final run up to my departure.  I have been experimenting with various freeze-dried foods and to be fair they are actually quite tasty. Whilst I know that when I get started I will feel that I haven't done enough, this is as much as I could reasonably fit in, whilst holding down a full-timish job. Needless to say I am itching to get out there, but by the same token am somewhat apprehensive, which is probably no bad thing.

Needless to say I don't want to put myself through this amount of pain without raising some meaningful money for charity. As such I have chosen to run for Mencap which is a fantastic charity, supporting and making a difference to the lives of thousands of people with learning disabilities. A learning disability always lasts for a persons' whole life, but with the right support a person with a learning disability can learn new things, gain life skills and be a valued and productive member of society

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.