OK why am I running the London Marathon? I could simply say that I am running it to fulfil a lifetime goal, to put the tick in my box and get it crossed off my list of things to do before I die.

But I found a better reason to run, not just for personal fulfillment but to actually try to give something back, I am mainly running simply because I can, allow me to expand.

Over the past 18 months, and at the time of writing this bio, was a time in my life that I noticed a huge change in the way I saw the world, my mother had died in August 2007, and I watched her peacefully go, but during that time I felt totally inadequate as there was nothing I could do, I was just a spectator, and just a few weeks later my favorite Auntie died, I went to visit her in hospital just a few days before she died, she asked me to take her home but there was nothing I could do (I was once again a spectator).

In September 2008 just over a year since loosing my Mum, my Mother in Law died of Stoke related illness, this time I was at the hospital with my wife and all the other members of the family, we where all helpless, just merely spectators once again.

In December 2008, my Stepsister was given the news that the Breast Cancer she had previously beaten was now back, the cancer had spread to her liver and at the age of 53 she was told that 12 months would be a bonus.

So while watching the London Marathon this year, and seeing all those crazy people running for charity, those people I had watched since 1981, I found myself once again a spectator, I was FAST and approaching fifty, (FAST on this occasion means FAT AND SPECTATING TODAY), but this time I realised that I can do something, I can run for charity in 2010, and help raise money for the people who helped my Mum, My Auntie, My Mother in Law, and those lovely people
at Breast Cancer Care, the Macmillan Nurses and other countless faceless heroes who provide great support for millions of people like my stepsister Dilys and her family.

As a former serviceman of over 23 years service running the London Marathon would simply not be enough, especially as I saw real heroes like Major Phil Packer who lost his legs during a rocket attack in Basra, Iraq, in February 2008, find the strength and courage to complete the course to raise over £762,000 for the Help for Heroes charity.

During my time as a soldier I ran the distance on a number of occasions, at times just for personal achievement, others simply because I was told to. Therefore I did not want to run the London Marathon just the once and tick that box of life’s goals, so I set myself a much bigger challenge and that is to run in the London Marathon for the next 10 years, so that for each year during my fifties I will be FAST at 50 (FIT AND STILL TRAINING).

However I still felt that was simply not enough, so now my challenge now is to raise as much money as possible during those ten years by running in the LONDON Marathon, NEW YORK Marathon, and PARIS Marathon, with a view to raising well over a 10 Million Pounds while doing so. Each year running for a nominated charity so that the money raised will be a significant sum to make as a sizable donation.

But the real aspect of the challenge is to encourage those of you who currently fall in the FAST at 50 (Fat And Spectating Today) category, to finally do something if not for yourself do it for others and run for charity. Don’t continue to become one of life’s spectators, don’t wait until you experience a tragic event, or god forbid you are suddenly disabled, don’t wait for an excuse, in the words of one of our sponsors “do it..”

Therefore the challenge now is to encourage those of you who are now in your 50’s or just about to enter the decade, those of you who have simply been one of life’s spectators, able bodied with no real excuse not to run, to take up the baton and join the thousands of others that make the effort and get fit, and be FAST AT 50.. I guarantee you will start to enjoy your life a whole lot more if you do.