My love-hate relationship with running began seven years ago when I discovered that, apart from the insulin I have to inject four times a day, it was by far the best way to control my diabetes – as well as keeping me sane in the mad, mad world I inhabit. Having never run more than 5k or 6k at one time, signing up to do a 10k run is a huge challenge. My added inspiration comes in the form of The Eve Appeal. My irreplaceable wife had an ovarian cancer scare in 2011, which thankfully turned out to be benign. The possibility of cancer and the terror it represents brought home to me in a very raw way the mortality of all of us, probably for the first genuine time in my life. It also highlighted the incredible work undertaken by The Eve Appeal. Since then, a close family friend has been diagnosed with a rare gynaecological cancer and is having to face the hell we avoided. So you see, my participation in the Grand East Anglian Run is not just a vain personal challenge for me to prove to myself that I can run 10k, although it certainly is that. With a generous donation from my friends, family and colleagues, no matter how small, it will hopefully raise much needed money for the work of The Eve Appeal, which is often lost in the competitive noise of much higher profile charity work. Donating this very minute will also help me to keep training when there are a million other things I should or would rather be doing…