When I heard last year that my good friend and early running mentor, Cavin Woodward, had died at the early age of 62, I was absolutely devastated. He was a wonderful runner and holder of many world records in the 1970's at various distances up to 100 miles.

I had not run for several years and was very overweight and unfit. The shock made me take stock and I decided to start running again. In the past 12 months I have dropped my weight to under 11 stone and am running the half marathon at age 63 in around 1h 30 and winning races in my age group, Grandmasters 60-64.

I am running the Great North Run in September under the auspices of the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB). Cavin would have approved!!!!!! I shall run as hard as I can and try to break 1h 30 and celebrate Cavin's life.

Please consider supporting me by donating to RNIB online. Thanks for your visit and God Bless.