On 16th October I’m taking part in the Stilton Stumble, a 10 km run through Cropwell Bishop and Colston Bassett. As you can imagine, my inner man is a coiled spring ready to go. Sadly my outer man is more like a buckled wheel. According to the NHS online weight checker I am “generously sized”, and I very much doubt that I could manage a mile at the moment, let alone the 6 miles that I am hilariously planning to do. Obviously the rest of the firm has opened a book on when and how I will collapse (the smart money is the first pub on the route).

I will shortly begin my training, and as all good athletes do I’m starting with an overseas training weekend in Portugal, or “going to a Stag Party” as the rest of the firm is calling it. This will mean cutting out the booze when I come round, and condensing a 12 week training regime into just 6 weeks starting on 1st September. What could possibly go wrong? Almost spookily, this coincides with the Cancer Research Dryathlon and so I’ve set up a just giving page here so that you can support my heroic efforts.

For the run itself, I will be selling advertising space on the back of my racing vests, wearing one for the 5 km run out and another for the 5 km run back, so if you know anyone who has a business that would like to buy a space on either or both vests then please send them in my direction. The vests will be raffled after the event. Although the chances of anyone being behind me are slim, bear in mind that I will be out on the course for a very long time so the ad will get plenty of exposure, especially as I am planning to finish by collapsing stylishly onto my front. The proceeds of the advertising will be given to PASIC (formerly the Parents’ Association for Seriously Ill Children) which is a Nottingham-based charity providing support to children and young people who have been diagnosed with cancer and their families.

The whole glorious adventure will be documented here and on the Cleggs Twitter feed. Unusually for a running event there is an initial weigh-in and measurements taken, so check back here for updates and photos. Cartwright Communications will also be helping with the publicity.

Thank you for your support!