As many of you will know, a few months ago we lost our Dad very suddenly after he suffered a severe stroke.  Although awareness of stroke is generally quite high, stroke research is severely underfunded and the Stroke Association is the UK's leading charity dedicated to conquering stroke as well as supporting those who have survived a stroke.  For these reasons and in memory of our wonderful Dad, I couldn't think of a better charity to put my running trainers on for and clock up those miles to run my first half marathon.