Everyone was invited to write why they were running on a big 2011 model at the marathon exhibition

All for love

Broadly, there were four types of runners lining up at the start in Greenwich Park:  the elite athletes, the keen amateur, those supporting a charity and those doing it for love.   It was the latter group that were the most moving. People who were running for a spouse, a father, a mother, a daughter, a son or a friend that was ill, or who had even died.  People, seeking to bring good out of tragedy, were motivated by love to make a difference.  It was heartening to see what people would do for love, and sobering to read the backs of people’s shirt:  “For my son ….”

The charity Oxfam had many people running.  I thought the slogan on their shirts was brilliant: Be Humankind.

It is out of the deepest of human tragedies that the greatest acts of humanity can come.  But why wait? Let’s be humankind anyway.

On April 17th 2011 I ran the London Marathon. Here’s why. You can donate here (this page will close on 17th July 2011).  You can read more marathon thoughts here (once they are published).