On Friday 29th March I will be running the 50 mile Manchester to Liverpool Ultra Marathon. As part of 6 months of training, and over many, many early starts in the dark, the cold, the rain and occasionally the sun, I've run almost 700 miles with 400 of those in the last 12 weeks. It's been a proper slog to get to this point where I'm almost at the start line, and still really quite far from the finish line. I genuinely can't wait till this is over and I can get back to doing, literally, anything else. If you want proof see the picture above. And that was about 400 miles ago!

My feet, legs and hips assure me this is the only time I will be trying to run this far (and whilst my feet and legs are prone to lying, like Shakira, my hips don't lie) so I wanted to make the most of it by attempting to raise some money for N-Gage, a fantastic charity that my wife, Polly, is a trustee for.

Any amount you can give would be greatly appreciated by everyone involved with N-Gage; and will also give me huge motivation on Friday afternoon knowing, as I crawl along a footpath in the Liverpool hinterland, questioning recent life-choices and crying Jelly Baby-flavoured tears, that some genuine good will come of this nonsense.

N-Gage is a Manchester-based charity that gives young people at risk of educational or social exclusion opportunities and skills to achieve their full potential.

Working in partnership with schools, Greater Manchester Police, Manchester City Council and other partners they provide highly successful, flexible and targeted approaches to anti-social behaviour and educational exclusion.

The charity was founded by Christie Spurling MBE in 2006 in response to his own experiences of educational exclusion.

He is a believer in being part of the solution and all the programmes he has set up for N-Gage try to look at young people as a whole person. He is committed to encouraging all young people to be an active and positive part of their community, in school and out.