In the past year one of my best friends had a brain tumour removed followed by a successful course of radiotherapy so I'm particularly mindful of this as I'm training for this year's Great North Run.  

At the event I'll be running with over 200 colleagues from Sage trying to #BeatTheCEO and I'm also aiming for a time under 90 minutes.

I'd hoped to run the whole race backwards but the organisers have told me it will be too busy for me to do this safely. Backwards running has helped improve my running and if I can hit my fundraising target I'll also run 13.1 miles backwards in Heaton Park prior to the race.