I cannot believe that I am sixty. How on earth did that happen?

One of my favourite poems about ageing (and love) is John Anderson my Jo by Robert Burns. It is from the point of view of a woman, looking back on having met her partner, to reflections on the now, thinking about moving together through the latter stages of their lives. Now, I love the poem and the music that goes with it. But what I don’t want to do is live by its famous phrase ‘Now we maun totter down, John’. It is the tottering I don’t want. I want to run, dance and cavort my way through my sixties.

And so, I have decided to run my first marathon. I have run for many years, but the longest I have ever run is a half marathon. In November, I will line up with my lovely friend Jen to run 26.2 miles in Porto.

I will be trying to raise money for Children in Scotland. It is a great organisation (of course I would say that, because I work there ... but it's actually true. I am specifically looking to raise funds to support the work of our children and young people’s advisory group, Changing our World. They are a brilliant bunch, and their views are at the heart of all the work we do.

If you can spare a couple of pounds that would be amazing as I am looking to try and raise £100 pounds per mile.

I know it is a tricky time, so if you can't do that, please just send me and Jen happy thoughts, particularly on the 8 November.

I'll be back with updates as we get down to some serious training.