On October 13th I’m running the Royal Parks half-marathon in London for the charity Movember with a target of under 2 hours. Clearly, already having a beard, the moustache game it is famous for is not really a go-er for me so I decided to do something a little more challenging. I know that I look the physical embodiment of a 20-something athletic young man (OK - clearly not!) but I can assure you that, now well in to my 50s, this is not (and has not been) the case. Also at this age, one becomes aware of the various health challenges that us blokes need to be on the look out for such as prostate and testicular cancer, which, to me, is what Movember is known for.

What I didn’t know, though, is that it also raises awareness about men's mental health. We all know that men tend not to be disposed to seeking advice and help about their own mental health - and this has only been exacerbated through the Covid years and its ‘long tail'. And here’s a sad fact about that… Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK. So that’s why I’ve decided to do this run for Movember. If they can help men see there are choices in life - to open up, to talk, to see they have options and opportunities, getting beyond fear of judgement and that stigma, then this is a cause I can get behind. So will you now back me and chuckle at the image of me crawling across that line in 1 hour and 59 minutes by sending some sponsorship my way please? At the time of writing this, it’s 12 weeks away so I’m getting in early - both with my training and this request - so we’re not leaving things until the last minute...