I am running the toughest foot race on earth, Marathon Des Sables, for Alzheimers Society as it is such a cruel illness which can affect any of us or our relatives at any time in our lives.

The Marathon Des Sables is known as the toughest footrace on earth!
It is a total of 251.6 Kilometres (156 miles) through the scorching Sahara Desert over six days and nights in Southern Morocco.

The temperatures are expected to reach 50 degrees c during the day and plummet to almost freezing at night. Also I have to carry all my equipment and food with me as I have to be self sufficient throughout the race, so this will include everything I need for the week such as clothes, shoes, cooking utensils and camping equipment.I am only allowed 12 litres of water per day.

There are six sections to the race and each section has a time limit. The most gruelling section starts in the midday heat and is the equivalent of 2 marathons. Running on sand uses twice the amount of energy as running on a hard surface. Apparently the heat and friction of the sand on my feet will cause severe blistering and bleeding.

Most of us imagine the desert to be relatively flat, however this is not the case! I will be tackling sand dunes daily and at one point in the race I will have to climb 1000 metres up a mountain!

My inspiration to complete this marathon is my Great Uncle John, who along with his wife, has dedicated a huge amount of time over the years raising money for charity himself. Unfortunately Uncle John was diagnosed with alzheimers himself and this is the reason I have chosen to raise funds for this charity. Most of us know someone or have a family member who is suffering with alzheimers. One person will be diagnosed with alzheimers every 3 minutes this year and there are already 40,000 people under 65 years of age with dementia in the United Kingdom.

ONE OF THEM COULD BE YOU!!