They say don't run before you can walk...........

As many of you will know last year Danica and I walked the Manchester Shine marathon through the night and between us raised over £1400 for Cancer Research UK with the support of our family, friends, colleagues and company (Unilever).  We also generated some impressive blisters and pain in muscles we would rather not speak of!

Now we have walking under the belt, 2012 presents us with a new challenge - inspired by films such as 'Run Fat Boy Run' and 'Forrest Gump' we are dyeing our hair ginger and growing beards......no, not that......we are running, running the Greater Manchester Marathon on 29th April 2012.

Danica is a relatively new runner but managed to complete the Liverpool marathon in 2011.  Against all her better instincts she has the hunger to do another! Emma is a new runner with a record distance of only 4 miles to date (as of Jan 2nd 2012) and a degree of insanity!

A combination of madness, ambition, determination and inspiration leads us to our current situation. A gruelling 4 month training programme lies ahead which will include many sacrifices - goodbye alcohol, late nights and saturday morning lie-ins, hello interval training, electrolytes and cold compresses.

Aside from the personal gains/losses we shall experience, a massive motivation for undertaking this challenge is to raise more money for Cancer Research UK.  Danica and I were both massively inspired by the story of Harry Moseley, a little boy, who whilst terminally ill took it upon himself to make bracelets to raise money for his friend who was also suffering from cancer.  Harry unfortunately passed away in Autumn last year, but his wish to help others gains momentum every day.

 www.helpharryhelpothers.com

So please, even though we know times are hard, we ask you to give generously to support Cancer Research UK. Every single donation, large or small, will boost our confidence and make us more determined to run (or crawl if necessary) across the Greater Manchester Marathon 2012 finish line with a wincing smile spread across our faces:-) More importantly you will be helping to save lives and keep a little boy's wishes alive.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

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 and donate now.