Soup in a basket.

I thought it was a good idea from the minute Tim asked me. Running a "Fun-Sized" Marathon in Ian's memory seemed like a good way of channelling all the bad juju (that comes along when one of your best mates suddenly dies) into a positive outcome.

I think that the Bloggeurs, and Bloggeuses who will contribute to this page over the next weeks and months will be thinking about Ian a lot - when I'm out training, he is certainly in my thoughts. I remember windurfing with him, hanging out on the beach, playing the guitar, talking rubbish (at quite some length), and generally being long-haired, sunburnt, and crazy. It really was a blast.

But, Ian won't be round for the next bit, so we've got to do the fun-sized marathon in style, as in the words of the man himself - it would be rude not to.

Everyone here has their own challenge in doing the run. For me, I need to spend a bit more time training, getting out in the beautiful countryside round Geneva (cue theme tune to Heidi) - and less time in the evil offiice. As I travel a bit for work, I now find myself making travel arrangements around gyms and running routes.

It's also a really big deal for my wife Christina. Ian was best man at our wedding in Mexico in October 2003, and having Fluff and Donna there meant the world to us both. Christina and I really enjoy doing sport together, and we loved going skiing - right up to the minute Christina broke her leg in two places on a blue run on New Year's Eve 2005. The rehab from that injury, plus the rehab from operations to take all the bits of metal out of her left pin have really restricted us from training for 2 years. Christina now no longer beeps when going through airports, and is keen to put the months of pain behind her and get training - although it is not going to be easy.

We need to get into the training habit. We have got ourselves two routes, a 5km in Veyrier and a 2.5km near home. We've got a plan, but now need to get up and get the trainers on before work two or three times a week. Very easy to type that, not quite so straightforward to actually do it. I'm sure Ian would have had some motivating words - probably something like "Stop @£*&ing bleating and get on with it", which of course, is all there is to it at the end of the day. The rest is just excuses.

PS - the RNLI running vests arrived today. The combination of ginger hair, and a bright yellow running vest combine beautifully. I'm sure every mosquito, bee, wasp, and flying midgy-type insect within a five mile radius of Newcastle is going to want to get to know me very well on October 5th.