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When I hit the milestone age of 50 a couple of months ago, I decided to set myself a personal challenge which I knew would take me well outwith my usual comfort zone. Apparently less than 1% of the world's population will run a marathon in their lifetime, so on the day of my 50th birthday, I registered to run the Edinburgh marathon. I've never run a marathon before, and I'm not particularly looking forward to all the months of training which I know will be required. 

To give me an added incentive to stick to the training schedule, and to help me work towards the goal of successfully completing my first ever marathon, I've decided to run it for charity. My chosen charity is HCPT- The Pilgrimage Trust - a charity I've supported for many years, and with which a number of my friends and family have been actively involved. HCPT-The Pilgrimage trust is involved in taking groups of children with many types of disadvantages or additional needs on a holiday pilgrimage to Lourdes in Easter week. The charity was formed in 1956, and now takes over 7,000 children from the UK and Ireland to Lourdes each year. The children come from all walks of life, and may belong to any religion or indeed to no religion at all. The holiday pilgrimage gives these children an opportunity to experience a really stimulating and enjoyable holiday, centred around the international shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. (For more information, visit www.hcpt.org.uk).

My daughter Laurina has been directly involved with HCPT-The Pilgrimage Trust for four years now, travelling to Lourdes each Easter, initially as part of the Scottish Youth Group offering support and assistance to all. This year, she is part of Group 23, and will act as a "one to one" carer for one of the children. Laurina is joining me in running the marathon, and we are each trying to raise sufficient funds to cover the costs of sponsoring one child. The cost per child is approximately £750, and any donation you could make to help me towards achieving this goal would be very much appreciated.

.....and if you see me and Laurina pounding the pavements around the south side of Glasgow on one of our training runs over the next few months, please give us a wave and toot your horn or shout some words of encouragement ! We'll need all the support we can get ! 

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