Mum knew that James and I had signed up to do this marathon. “You are both mad!” What we all didnt know was that in September 2022 she would be rushed to hospital and subsequently diagnosed with cancer. She died on 3rd December 2022. Leaving a gigantic hole in our family. She was so unbelievably strong despite the pain. Her name will be carried on the soon to be newly commissioned lifeboat at Whitby due to come into service later this year. Mum had to endure a life of watching mens sport with Dad, James and I. (She was a particular fan of Will Carling - loved ringing her to say id sat next to him in a restaurant once! And my picture with Roger Black i think made it onto the fridge…!) Before she was ill we talked about MND and particularly about Doddie Weir as we had witnessed the emotion of it all at Murrayfield in 2017 and in 2022 when he bravely presented the ball at the beginning of the matches with the famous All Blacks (both great games Scotland should have won!) so she would think it was great if we did it for Doddie. And then there is Rob Burrow & Kevin Sinfield - fighting a disease together. Inspirational and real and demonstrating qualities we should be rightly proud of. Really eptimising what it means to have a mate! When the chips are down you learn a lot about people! So its fitting for me that my best man and friend is also doing this marathon (considerably quicker i have no doubt!) and raising money for another worthy charity! Thank you Jerry for at least making sure we get to the start line! We have a 4th member in our taxi to the start line, Adam, happy birthday! A milestone one (who does a marathon on their birthday?), he has also been a fantastic friend to me particularly over the last 9 months! So if anyone is still reading we are 4 friends in a taxi, our average weight is probably quite healthy except that James & I are certainly more like 60% of it, our average marathon time will likely be quite healthy thanks to Adam & Jerry! For James and I its likely to be emotional. I hope the memory of this event is not all about the pain, its certainly been weeks of ”training” as opposed to the recommended months but its a test! As Mum would have said “just try your best!” Swiftly followed by “be careful” and “don’t drink too much” ❤️