at work who was doing the Great North Run. It hit me like a brick: that's what I should do, run a half-marathon for charity and try to help others. I contacted a charity that was close to my heart and Paul's illness and they could not have been more

for my next lifetime experience.“It’s the things we overcome and achieve that makes us great”Every marathon is a lifetime experience and to raise money for a charity gives me a great sense of achievement.My advice and tips for fundraisingFamilyMake sure

proud of myself. Unfortunately my blood sugars took a bit of a hit – but along with a few extra injections and close monitoring I got myself sorted pretty quickly.The reason to run for Diabetes UK and how I fundraisedSo the next challenge was the Great

that grief like mine can be avoided.The best piece of advice I can give for fund-raising is that "it’s for charity" doesn't cut it any more. People want to feel like they are getting something out of it personally, even if it’s just in the way you sell it

to have to do this!"I got more serious about my training after that - I knew after struggling with a 10K it would be a nothing short of a miracle if I got round the marathon in one piece. I also got stuck right into my fundraising, I organised a charity

with the same disease. Why?I got in touch with the charity Bowel and Cancer Research, sent them a donation and then signed up for some running events. I had never run a full marathon before and now nearer to 50 than 40 I wondered what I had signed up for. During