At last, after many years of watching friends run the marathon, celebrating with them in the pub, and swearing blind (or blind drunk) I was going to run next year, I am prevaricating no more. 

I am following in my father’s footsteps and running the London Marathon. As many of you know, he completed it more than 10 times, the fastest being around 3 hours. Unfortunately I don’t seem to have inherited his talent so I will be aiming for about 4 hours (his time aged 60!), with the most important target being completion of the distance.

I have picked a wonderful charity in Whizz Kidz. The charity aims to ensure that every disabled child fulfils their potential and leads an active childhood through providing them with customised mobility equipment, wheelchair training, advice and lifeskills. Your donations will make a huge & immediate difference to the lives of disabled children and their families.

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 for a very worthy cause.