A while ago now, Amelia persuaded me to join her in entering the ballot for the London Marathon. Inevitably, while she missed out, I was lucky enough to gain a place in the ballot. One leg injury related deferral later, cut to Christmas 2023, with no further deferrals available, I realised I needed to at least start trying to train if I was going to have a chance of doing it!

Not being a particularly natural athlete (a shock to you all, I’m sure), I didn’t tell very many people at all about this madcap plan, for fear of spectacularly crashing and burning. And so, over the last few months, I’ve been squeezing in long and short runs wherever possible, including one very jet lagged long run more or less straight off a 10 hour flight to Austin, Texas.

And so, to marathon day. The first 3 hours were very enjoyable. The last 92 and a bit minutes…decidedly less so. But I made it, somehow, and so I would be extremely grateful if anyone reading this would consider donating a small amount to Cancer Research UK.

It is almost a certainty that we will all be closely affected by cancer in our lifetimes - whether personally, or afflicting our loved ones.

My mother, Ann, was tragically taken from us by cancer far too early, 17 years ago - which often still feels like yesterday. My mother was the most wonderful Mum that I could have ever asked for, and I miss her every day and would give anything to have had more time with her. I thought about her a great deal during the race today, and she brought me a great deal of strength, as she always does.

Sadly, we are also going through a similar situation all over again, as Amelia’s father has come to the end of his own treatment for terminal cancer. Jim is a fantastic person and absolutely devoted father, and he too is facing this all too soon.

Medical science is a remarkable thing, and incredible strides have been made in cancer treatment and prevention, but there is still so much more that I hope can be discovered, to allow for more treatment of cancer and to give people living with cancer more precious time.

If you are able to donate anything at all, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can also assure you that I will absolutely never be running a marathon again!