This will be my sixth and final (yes, I promise Sarah) marathon. It is over six years since my last marathon, The London Marathon, April 2015 and my body has aged just a little bit since then. However I have set myself the challenge of finishing in under four hours. Last time I ran 3:58:06 so this really is a tough target. I am hoping that my past experiences and what, hopefully, is a smart, customised training regime will get me there. Setting such a goal has helped my motivation enormously and the training should get me to the finish line safely. Going sub-4 would be a bonus.

For this marathon I will be raising money for National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS). Axial Spondyloarthritis is an umbrella term and one of the main forms of this disease is Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (ank-ee-lo-zing spon-dee-li-tus). This is a type of arthritis that mainly affects the back, by causing inflammation in the spine. This can make your back, rib cage and neck stiff and painful.
It often starts in people who are in their late teens or 20s.
In response to the inflammation, the body produces extra calcium around the bones of the spine. This can make extra bits of bone grow and cause your back and neck to be stiffer. Here is a link to the NASS website which explains it a bit more:

https://nass.co.uk/about-as/what-is-as/

One of my friends, Keiron Marshall, has AS. He is a vegan chef and blues guitarist. Alongside his wife Hannah White, Keiron is the co-founder of The Sound Lounge, a plant-based café/bar restaurant and music venue. They currently have two venues in Sutton and Morden, South London.
They even managed to open the Sutton Sound Lounge during the pandemic. They have recruited and trained staff from the local area and managed to keep both venues open whilst maintaining all Covid safety measures. This has meant barely breaking even. Now restrictions are relaxing they can have more people in the venue/restaurant but it will mean a lot of work. Keiron is often in a lot of pain and often wears support on his lower back as he is on his feet most of the day.
Hannah and Keiron are providing a great facility for the local communities where they have venues. 

This is Keiron:
"A lot of people still don’t know much about it, but what I can say is I wake up everyday in pain and I go to sleep in even more pain. My back and hips are probably the worst, but for some reason my knees, thumbs and neck now have pain & my rib cage gives me sharp pain when I’m bad. It’s like being stabbed in the chest at times. My hips and lower back are fusing. I suffer with fatigue a lot due to lack of sleep, but also did you know pain just wipes the energy out of you. As many of you have seen when I’m having a flare up my mobility gets bad, either I can’t walk, or have to use a stick as it’s just too much. I have no idea how this will progress, how bad it will get, but at 32, I do hope there will be some progress made in the next 20years, as the future terrifies me."

There is currently no cure for AS. Keiron is coping well at the moment but is understandably worried about the future. I hope you are able to donate to NASS and help Keiron and others who are suffering from AS.