21. Cancer Research UK's Race for Life

I ran it in 2008, with my friend JT who ran it much faster.

I'm going to run it again this year, in Hyde Park, in July. I'm going to run it faster this time.

It's not only a very good excuse to get in shape and stop being such a lard-butt, it's a genuinely emotional couple of hours. To be surrounded by women of all ages, shapes and sizes, who have either had cancer, or been close to someone with cancer, or just wanted to do something to help fund cancer research, is amazing. To see their families and friends come together to support them, is very moving. To see the pride on their faces when they finish, even if they have mainly walked round yakking to their mates, is amusing, but it's hard not to share that pride.

I have lost friends to cancer, but my experience more recently has been that it can be beaten. I have witnessed the miraculous, life-saving cutting edge of the science, and the daily goodness of the nurses. I have seen the system at its best, and am glad to be able to do even a very small thing to help make sure that every single person who is diagnosed with cancer gets the same care my loved ones got.

Watch out for a sponsorship form - coming round soon!