Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am running 52 miles over the Mourne Mountains, a mountain range in Ireland, on 9 June 2012. For those of you who are interested in running (or at least know a little bit about it) you will have quickly worked out that this is a double marathon.

Given that this is my first ultra marathon (the term commonly used for any distance over the 26.2 marathon distance), you would think running 52 miles would be difficult enough. However, to add to the inevitable blood, sweat and tears (hopefully not too many tears!) that will go into hauling myself over the 52 miles, the race I have entered will be staged over the Mourne Mountains, an stunning mountain range in Northern Ireland.

Whilst the race will not take me over the peaks of the mountains, I will, over the course of the 52 miles, be expected to climb and drop over c.7,650 ft. This will essentially be the equivalent of running up and down over 8 Scottish Munros (or to put it another way - this will be the equivalent of running and down Ben Nevis more than 1.5 times). Easy I hear you say.........!

I appreciate that there are lots of sponsorship emails going around, especially this time of the year. Whilst I am aiming to generate some money for a great charity, there is absolutely no pressure to sponsor me. If you can afford to sponsor me, then great, but as I say, there is no pressure.

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 the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.