Despite swearing that I'd never run further than I needed to catch a bus, I'm running the London Marathon for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

I'm running because last year my father was diagnosed with MND. It’s a deeply unpleasant disease which strikes totally at random, and the medical community seems to know virtually nothing about why it happens, how to treat it, and certainly how to cure it. But people are working hard to change that, and they need all the support they can get. If I can do something to help them, any work I put in will be worth every minute.

I'll be keeping a blog on my magazine website to let you all know how my training is going. You can visit it here:

http://community.thirdsector.co.uk/blogs/runningforcharity/default.aspx

Thanks for all your support, and wish me the best of luck.