I am running my first Marathon later this year, at Kielder Water in Northumberland, and I'm asking for donations to two really important causes.

Please give generously!

The first, is the charity Mind. They offer advice, support, and really important campaigns for the improvement of mental health services.

The second, is a trade union - the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), of which I am a member. IWGB are a fighting general union organising in some of the most under-organised areas, such as the so-called 'gig economy'. Together its members are breaking new ground, and unlike certain people (cough, cough) they are putting the work in where it counts.

We need better mental health services and we need a change in approach to mental health service provision in this country. Equally, or perhaps more than that, we need to fight to build a world that does not heap stress, strain and suffering onto the shoulders of those who are least able to bear it.

Please donate to my fundraiser! The final amount will be split equally between the two recipients.

If nothing else, please make the gratuitous pain to which I am subjecting myself (of my own free will!) worthwhile somehow. Help me in my probably futile attempt to make all this unnecessary running around mean something.

Apparently, the Kielder is "Britain's most beautiful" Marathon, a phrase which by the 22nd mile will presumably ring in my head like a sick joke as I struggle to put one foot in front of the other. But the fact that I will have raised some money for great causes will undoubtedly help!

Please give generously to my fundraiser and follow me on Facebook or on Twitter, or even on Strava, for training updates!