I've kept it rather quiet, so many of you might not know that I'm running the London Marathon this Sunday. Since word leaked out a little while back I've had loads of people asking me which charity I'm raising money for but until now (let's see, FOUR whole days before the race) I wasn't planning on asking for sponsorship at all.

 

However, I've had loads of people offering to sponsor me for Sunday's efforts, so in typically last-minute fashion I'm going to try and raise some money to help a hugely under-rated charity.

 

As I've probably told you all by now, last month my dog Smudge sadly died after developing a tumour in his neck. Although Smudge was officially the Best Dog In The World, he was utterly, utterly hopeless at standard dog things such as being trained, behaving, fetching things and so on. The National Search and Rescue Dog Association (NSARDA) deals with altogether more sensible dogs, taking puppies and training them up to help save lives on mountains and moors across the UK. Just like Smudge, most of their dogs have some collie in them. Unlike Smudge, they're extremely well-trained and regularly troop out with their handlers in all weathers. In contrast, we once took Smudge up a mountain in the winter and he nearly got hypothermia. Then we took him up a different mountain in the summer and he nearly keeled over with heat exhaustion. Oh well.

 

On Sunday I'm going to be surrounded by thousands of people running in memory of friends, relatives and loved ones. I'm pretty sure I'll be the only one running in memory of my dog but, hey, I always like to do things differently...

 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, while saving time and cutting costs for the charity.