It’s a week until my attempt at the Milan Marathon and I have got a weather eye firmly on the forecast.

Just a couple of days ago it was showing rain all day, but today it’s looking like well nigh perfect running conditions. A week is a long time in weather forecasting, but this is certainly encouraging.

This will be my third marathon of the year for Pipal Tree, after completing Seville in February and Barcelona in March, as part of my six-marathon attempt in this ‘Year of the Sixes’ challenge. My defiant response to turning 66 last month!

But, in a change of plan, I am now inviting my sponsors to donate to this site rather than to my main sponsorship page. There’s two reasons for that.

Firstly, I am very pleased to support my friends the Greenslade family after the loss of son and brother, Joe, to suicide last October.

Secondly, the sponsorship that they raise through this page (and by extension, my own) will be collated and channelled into the Big Give when the Earth Raise campaign launches at noon on 22nd April. The chance to have funds doubled on this platform during these very tough times is not to be missed.

If you can spare a few pounds, dollars, euros or whatever major currency, please just click the link below, dig deep and annotate the gift ‘marathon’ under comments. Thanks very much!

https://pipaltree.info/Sixes