Since my last post I have realised that there is a hell of a lot to think about when you're crazy enough to decide to do a marathon... particularly a spring marathon. Specifically (but not exclusively):

1. Charity? If so, which charity?

2. Which training schedule?

3. How to keep warm enough to make sure 'it's too cold' doesn't become your excuse for not running.

I'm not going to talk about all of those in one post - I'd be here forever - but let's start with number one.

Since I got my marathon place, I'd been asked many times which charity I was running for. Of course because I was fortunate enough to get a ballot place, I didn't have to run for a charity at all, but it seems rude not to raise a bit of money if you can. The problem is deciding on which charity. The acceptance magazine contains 83 adverts for charities who would love for people to raise funds for them. And that's just the charities who can afford the advertising.

My dilemma was solved pretty easily when someone I had a lot of respect for (and owe a lot to) passed away after a long encounter with pancreatic cancer. As soon as I heard, I started looking for suitable charities and decided on the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. It was founded in 2004 by the widow of a man whose pancreatic cancer was only discovered after it had spread to his lungs. He died three months after they were married. The charity's aims are:

1. To raise funds for research into early detection, new treatments and ultimately a cure for pancreatic cancer
2. To encourage more of the research community to get involved in pancreatic cancer research
3. To promote the need for more research funding by the major cancer research funding organisations

So far they have awarded grants to 16 research projects, totalling £2.2 million.

If you would like more information or fancy sponsoring me, take a look at my fundraising page. Thanks very much to those who've already contributed.