Thanks for all the donations!!!! irritatingly I have picked up a minor calf strain so am having to rest while it heals! Hard to believe I am actually missing running after four days sidelined but I am. Should be back in training wc 16/2 and counting the days!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. If you do nothing else please at least take a look at the attached video link which gives an example of what this charity will spend your money on.

It won't have escaped the notice of many of you over the last few years that I have made some progress in improving my overall fitness. OK, I'll admit that I was a lazy, overweight something or other and decided one day to set myself a challenge. What few of you will have been aware of is that the challenge I set was to run the London Marathon, I am really pleased (i think!?) to be able to announce that the year will be April 2013 and the charity I am running for will be one with whom I have had a long term association, Dogs for the Disabled.

This is a great little charity, they provide specially trained assistance dogs for people living with a whole spectrum of challenges. At one extreme they support terminally ill children and at the other extreme they support severely wounded ex-service personnel. Its well run by a great guy called Peter Gorbing who has devoted the last twenty years to building the charity up. It as at least in part Peter's commitment, vision and drive to help as many people as possible that I have found inspiring.

Partnership has adopted Dogs for the Disabled as a staff charity and are already making donations for every policy we sell and matching staff fundraising.

I'd really love to blow the doors off the fundraising target for Peter and team so please give generously, for those of you who don't know my lifestyle I commute into London from the south coast every day so much of my training is going to be happening at 5am on weekdays. It would really help me as I run up the pitch black hills of the south downs in freezing conditions or driving rain to know we were funding at least a couple of extra dogs being trained in 2013!

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, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.