I walked the Royal Parks Half-Marathon on October 11, 2009, in the splendid company of Professor Maxwell Hutchinson, a leading authority on architecture and a former president of the RIBA. (Other entrants for Article 25 ran the course.) Many thanks to all those people who have already sponsored and encouraged me, and especially to Lisa Dayanandan, of Article 25, who would have been walking with us but for an injury.

I felt that I already knew Maxwell very well before we met, as I am a regular listener (and even very occasional hands-free phone-in contributor, aka Richard on the A3) to Robert Elms's superb lunchtime radio show on BBC London, on which Maxwell is a regular.

Maxwell has a reputation as a very well-dressed man about town, and I tried my best to raise my sartorial game on the day to try to match his (a tall order, for those who know me or see the photographic evidence here) as he delivered a running (so to speak) commentary on the built environment that passed us by at relatively low speed. We are good talkers and of course great listeners, as well as finely honed athletes. We finished in a respectable 3hr 52min 44sec, and had sufficient energy to raise pints of ale (appropriately, London Pride) afterwards. We clearly share a taste for proper English beer sampled in well-constructed and designed licensed premises, as you would expect of an architect and a journalist after a long Sunday morning stroll.

My “official” target for this excellent cause was £500, but I am going to keep my page active with the initial goal of £3,000, and I hope that other fundraising opportunities will present themselves. As you enjoy the relative comfort, safety and security of your built environment - home, office, shop, factory, surgery, hospital, restaurant, hotel, sports stadium, concert venue, club, pub, place of worship - spare a thought and some of your pounds for the people around the world whose dreams of somewhere decent to live and to be can be transformed by your donation to Article 25, and the architectural expertise that it will bring to them.

As chief revise editor (aka jefe de pedantismo) of The Times, I am hoping especially that readers and staff of our great organ will be able to support me - whether they have been delighted or exasperated by my pontifications over the past year on Bombay/Mumbai, wistaria/wisteria and David Cameron's naive silly-season dalliance with four-letter infamy on another media outlet. (Incidentally, other organs are available, and their readers and journos are welcome to give too.) In the aftermath/afterglow of the half-marathon, I can thoroughly recommend the sense of achievement in walking 13 miles 192 yards 1ft 6in (approx).

For more details of what Article 25 does, do see its website at www.article-25.org

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – it will never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, it will send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it is the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, while saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Please do continue to give generously.

Cheers and many thanks.