Hiya! Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.

 

I'm running the London Marathon in April next year for the Alzheimer's Research Trust in memory of my Grandad Jim. I had to pledge to raise £1500 to get my place, and I would be touched and honoured if you could help me out by donating. That’s all you need to know really, but if you want more details then click 'read more' to read on…

 

 

 

Those of you who know me well will already know that I am really, really rubbish at nearly all physical tasks. Whenever my friends or family introduce me to someone new, I know that it’s only a matter of a few hours, or a few drinks, before someone asks me to show them how I can’t jump, or do a press-up, or catch a ball, or ride a bike, because apparently it’s quite funny watching me try.    

 

So that’s why, when I eventually discovered a sport that just involved running forwards in a straight line for a long time, and found out that if I trained hard enough I could actually be sort of OK at it, I was pretty pleased with myself.

 

And now I’m going to run a whole marathon. When I started my training, I hadn't run for a good year, so I've been building up gradually from scratch. I’m going to keep this page updated on my journey from being able to get round 3 miles (and nearly puking at the end) to completing the whole 26.2.

 

I don’t think I need to give you a big sob story about my choice of charity, because dementia is so common that I know pretty much everyone reading this will be connected to someone who has experienced the horribleness of slowly and gradually losing someone they love to it.

 

Sir Terry Pratchett, who is bravely and inspiringly public about his own experience of Alzheimer’s, is the patron of Alzheimer's Research UK. My dad and loads of my friends have been recommending his books to me for years, but I’ve never read any of them, so just for fun, I’m going to read some while I train, and update this page with my progress in that project as well. If you have a suggestion for the book I should start with, donate now and put the book in your comment. And if you don’t care what Terry Pratchett book I read, please donate now anyway!!

 

That’s me for now. Thanks for reading, I’ll update soon.

 

Thanks again,

love Ali xxx