I have been running for a few years by now. There are many reasons one can run for: to explore uncharted parts of towns, cities, mountains and forests; to gain the satisfaction of having completed a tough training; to feel the pleasant tiredness in one's muscles and know that it improved one's health; to get the chance to break away from everything for a little time... But above all, to me, running is a special challenge. The longer the distance, the harder it is. One cannot run long distances without preparation that takes a lot of time, effort, and determination. The short runs, the boring stretching, the tiredness, and the annoying injuries are all steps on the road that lead to success in the runs that matter.

Research is in many respects very similar to covering long distances. In both activities it takes a lot of commitment to be successful, as well as many-many hours of effort, often painful, tedious or boring work on small details, and the never-ending duty of developing one's techniques and skills. Although the goals one can achieve can be impressive, often they will be only small victories, much less unique and outstanding than one would like them to be. Nevertheless, both research and running can be fulfilling and provide a person with new challenges again and again, thereby giving an extra dimension of value and joy to one's life. And in a sense neither long distance running, nor research ever comes to an end. There will always be another day and another beautiful lake one has never run around, just as there will always be another unanswered question. Although there are  many set endpoints one can achieve both in running and in research, ultimately they are endless journeys, and to be on the way is half of the fun.

I have  always respected researchers whose work has results that can be put to beneficial applications. Cancer took away my grandmother when I was little, and recently it also ended the life of the grandparents of my partner. It is a condition which has affected at least one person in the families of almost all of my friends. Therefore it seems to be the right thing to turn one kind of long distance challenge, a half-marathon run, into a tool for helping people who have embarked on an even longer and harder journey, namely on that of finding cures and treatments to cancer.

My goal is modest: to collect £ 100 in donations. It is not much but as they say, every little helps, and since so many people are involved in the Oxford Half-Marathon, all the runners together can raise amounts that make a significant difference.

There are a few runs that one never forgets. I completed one of my most memorable runs in my home town, Kaposvár in Hungary, near the lake Deseda. It was a hot summer morning (around 36 Celsius degrees) and I set off for an easy 10.2 km run. At that time we had a dog, Djaffar, a Siberian Husky, who always accompanied me for my runs, but since it was so hot this time I locked the dog in the cool basement at home to make sure that he wouldn't join me. I was about 2 kilometers away from home when I heard laud brattling and gasping not too far behind me. It was Djaffar catching up to me. I tried to send him home or get him to lie down in the shades but no amount of convincing could get him to leave me . We ended up running the distance together, in the horrible heat. That amount of running wasn't a problem for either of us, but running in the beaming sun, breathing the humid and hot air wasn't easy, and my friend did it all in his thick fur evolved to keep off the cold of the Siberian winters. To cool him off a bit we interrupted the run twice to take a swim in the lake . While I was swimming Djaffar stood in the shallow water near the shore and kept his eyes anxiously on me. He never went out of the water before I safely arrived back to the beach. At home I found out that he escaped when my parents arrived home. When he heard that my mom was approaching the door he hid behind the door, and when she opened it,  Djaffar jumped out and then quickly climbed the fence to set off on the trail to catch up with me. The heat didn't matter to him, nor my parents' calls, or my obvious intention of going without him. He was the most faithful running companion wherever I went, and run with me until his old age.

I hope my first Oxford Marathon will be one of those runs that I will never forget. If you can help me by donating to Cancer Research UK that would mean very much to me. Running is a way of proving to myself that I can tackle long distance challenges, that I have the patience and determination to do it. But by donating to charity all my training and effort could also be of support to those working on the treatments that can one day help save the lives of members of our family, of our friends, and those of countless others.

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