I've never run a marathon. It's one of those questions: 'why are you doing it?' And mine is one of those annoying answers: 'because it's there'. But because it's there it offers up a challenge, and I reckon it's good to have a challenge at every stage in life, especially if you're pretty fortunate in most other ways.

I've done half marathons and 10ks, but you can't really blag 26.2 miles; you actually have to train, something that's already underway with at least 4 long or fast runs each week. 

Why YMCA, I hear you ask? Well, I had to go the charity route because I didn't get a ballot place. But YMCA as a charity (and in full disclosure, they're clients of ours) also offers up a challenge because so far everyone I've told has asked me which member of the Village People I'll be dressed as. 

AND YET ... YMCA didn't even write the song. And no-one seems to know that YMCA are the largest provider of accommodation for young people in England and Wales - nearly 10,000 beds per night. They help over 18,000 people each year who might otherwise be homeless, and many of them stay with them for years as they turn their lives around - and plenty have in turn then worked for YMCA helping others. 

Every £12 that you sponsor me with can sponsor a safe, secure room where a scared and possibly messed-up young person can work out what to do to make friends, get a job, get their lives back on track and even overcome drug and alcohol addictions (refreshingly, many YMCAs don't turn addicts away either). 

So they're a bit of a hidden gem, which is as good a reason as any to run for them as a charity. 

Oh, and basketball was invented in one of their gyms, which is pretty cool.