For his 70th birthday, my dad announced that he wanted to cycle from London to Paris. And so he did with my brother and fella to keep him company. When I mentioned that I wanted to support Willow Burn Hospice near Lanchester, County Durham, he decided he'd do it with me. He's 72 now. "It's on the bucket list" says he. "Ok" says I.

And that was that. His Christmas present was sorted; entry to the Great North Run.

For many years, when I was small, my family positioned themselves at the bottom of my gran and granddad's street in South Shields to watch the Great North runners, specifically my Uncle Alan, run past.

If you've never watched 10s of 1000s of people run past the end of your street it's a real spectacle. People of all shapes and sizes and fitness levels doing a mammoth half marathon for whatever reason they have.

**And this year, the Little Dad and Daughter team will be running (well not exactly running) on behalf of the magnificent Willow Burn Hospice which provides care for people with palliative and end of life needs.**

UPDATE : Poor dad hasn't had a great year and an operation and 6 months later mean we are now walking 13. 2 miles on the weekend of the GNR. We're gutted but will still be doing our bit.