Last year I achieved my goal of running a sub 1 hour 30 minutes half marathon. Thanks to all the long distance training I have been doing recently, this is unlikely this time around so I have set myself the target of going under 1 hour 40 minutes.

What makes this year even more special is that I am running for OCCTOPUS, a charity which has helped my family in the past.

Oxford Colon Cancer Trust is a very practical charity. Our bye line is “making new treatments happen”. Whilst national high profile charities fund work on how cancer cells go wrong, OCCTOPUS has a more immediate focus. Originally formed in 2003, it aims to fund practical advances in treatment, education and research in these areas - the 3 “C’s” Colorectal cancer, Colitis and Crohns, as well as Continence.We help the colorectal team at the Oxford University Hospitals keep right up to date with, and even ahead of, advances in tools and techniques.