Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As you may know, I'm getting married this summer and thought that some marathon preparation would be in order as this is intended to be a long haul! Despite struggling against my uncooperative knees that has brought me here, with less than a week to go before the Edinburgh Marathon (31st May) and an additional 11 weeks before the wedding.

Running a marathon has been something I have always wanted to achieve and something which I am still nervous about, but one of the things that has spurred me on during my training is a commitment I made to Oxfam for saving me a place.

I have supported Oxfam for a long time. Many of you will know that my PhD is supported by Arthritis Research UK and I volunteer for the Samaritans so perhaps they would have been more obvious choices, but I am passionate about the responsibility that we all have for alleviating poverty and it is mainly for this reason that I chose to run for Oxfam.

Over the years I have been involved with a number of charities who have this aim and my limited experience has taught me that larger organizations benefit immensely from higher levels of accountability and research based planning. Oxfam is very strong on both these points, if you want to know more then please ask me and I will be happy to expand, otherwise check out their website which contains a wealth of information that should encourage you to donate.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to Oxfam. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.