Sadly Dom's lovely Grandad, Leslie Philips, lost his battle against lung cancer on 28th April 2014. He was a kind, modest gentleman who would never have fully understood the positive impact he had on our family. We want to do something difficult to celebrate and honour his life, and to thank all those people who contributed to his care in the last days of his life.

Sadly, his death was not the first in our social circle. Over the past couple of years we have lost two other friends, in their thirties, to cancer and one to another illness. We took a long, hard look at ourselves and realised that, in order to fully appreciate the wonderful working bodies we find ourselves in possession of, we probably should look after them a bit better.

We've been on a bit of a health kick ever since. In the last 22 months we've lost over 10 stones between us and we've found a new love of exercise and the great outdoors.

About 18 months ago I couldn't run for 30 seconds. 2 years before that, I had ME/CFS and couldn't walk without crutches or a mobility scooter. I can't explain how wonderful it feels to now be able to run for 13 miles with the wind in my hair and the sun (or rain or wind!) on my skin. I feel incredibly lucky.

I'll never be the fastest or the fittest runner, and I will always be more tortoise than hare. Charlie once infamously called it "joggling" because I jog and wobble at the same time. He makes a good point... Dom has always been a bit fitter than me (and he can still outrun me, although I'm determined I will beat him some glorious day…) but his journey has been no less challenging. Think Usain Bolt, with a bright pink pram...

We hope to run a marathon in 2015, but we're going to carry on training and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to run 126 miles for Les in 2014. Fingers crossed.

We hope that Grandad will be smiling down on us and the charities who support other cancer patients and their families. I know that you will be inundated with requests for sponsorship and I don't wish to add to that noise. However, if everyone we know donated £1 we could make a huge difference to the lives of others. Thank you so very much x