"Why would anyone want to do a marathon?" I would always say. After all, I had managed to go through the first 33 years of my life having never run further than 10km on any given occasion. I'm proud to say that I now know the answer to the aforementioned question - a little coercion from work colleagues and plenty of alcohol, and voila! I now seem to be running a Marathon!

Not wanting to do things in halves, I've had to make certain sacrifices in preparation for the big day on April 22nd as my friends will attest. My social life has taken a hit, and braving training sessions in subzero temperatures while there are far more sensible and enjoyable options has required significant will power! I now find myself running at least a half marathon every week, with my long run set to peak in a few weeks time around the 35km mark. I really hope there's a feeling of achievement and satisfaction rather than just blisters and shin splints.You can imagine I'm looking forward to a change of pace once this is all over (pun intended!).

On a more serious note, there's another reason why I am running the marathon - to raise money for a worthy cause. One Cause (www.onecauseuk.org) is a great little non-profit organisation of which I know the founding member personally. This charity promotes education in developing countries as a means to improve living standards, and I'm proud to say that I will be running this year's marathon to assist in fundraising efforts for their various projects (see website for further details). I ask that you please give generously, taking comfort in the fact that it's not you having to punish your body through a gruelling 42 kilometres.

Any words of encouragement would also be appreciated!

Thanks for your support,

Rob