Update
As I sit here writing this update, 6 months on from the initial post, I am feeling strong (lies) and totally ready (also lies) for my half marathon on Sunday.

Believe it or not, my training had been consistent and progressing well. I was told, “if you can run 15k you can run a half marathon” by a few people, so on Monday 27th August I set off for a run and managed to clock up 15.5k. Unfortunately during this run I hurt my knee pretty badly and was in pain for a good few weeks, unable to run at all. I’ve been having physio for 4 weeks now and my knee is starting to feel mainly better when resting, but still has quite a bit of pain whilst running. I’ve been lightly running over the past couple of weeks but no huge distances. I’ve left it this long to re-post as I was unsure whether I would be able to complete the run or not, but with a leg currently tightly strapped by the physio and a memory of why I signed up to do this in the first place, I’m determined to cross that finish line. My knee will hurt, I may need to walk, or even crawl across the line, but I am running on Sunday and I will finish, for two great causes – The Christie hospital, and also my great mum, Patsy.

Original Message
In honour of what would have been my mum's 63rd Birthday this week, I wanted to do something which would not only remind everybody of what a fabulous person she was, but would also give something back to one of the places that really helped her during her fight with cancer.

My mum has already helped generate associated fund raising of over £12000 for The Christie Hospital; an incredible charity that treats cancer patients in a state of the art facility in Manchester. I have decided to run the Manchester half marathon in memory of my mum and also to continue to raise funds on her behalf. The Christie do some wonderful things for patients and their families and your donation will be worth every penny.

Given the furthest I have ever run before is 15k (with breaks!), running half a marathon will certainly be a challenge, but knowing we are all contributing to such an amazing cause, for an amazing lady, will make sure I keep training and spur me on to complete the race on the day.

We're doing it for Patsy (and The Christie) and we need your help!

Thanks all

Andrew