About 2 years ago, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic - which means if I carry on with my current lifestyle (exercise and nutrition), I am very likely to develop diabetes as I get older.  A bit of a wake-up call!

Since then, I've learnt a lot about what I should and shouldn't eat but haven't been too successful on the exercise front!

So, I've decided that a challenge would help me to focus on exercising a bit more, and losing a bit of weight.  As if by magic at the same time, Diabetes UK came along and announced Swim22!

I've decided to go for the longest swim - 44 miles - which is roughly the equivalent of swimming the channel twice.  Idea is that whatever distance you choose to do, it's done over 12 weeks.

So my local pool is 25 meters in length.  From March 22nd (which is when this event start), I will be aiming to swim three times a week, completing 80 lengths (2,000 metres) in each session.  That's 6km a week for 12 weeks.

My average distance for a swim is 1200 metres (48 lengths) and twice a week, so this will be quite a step-up for me!

So I'm asking everyone I know to lend a bit of support by sponsoring me.  It would be nice if I could raise a bit of money for Diabetes UK whilst doing this.  I would imagine almost everyone is either related to or knows someone who has diabetes or is pre-diabetic - this is a condition that touches a lot of people.