On May 15th I’ll be lining up at the start line of the Sydney Morning Herald half marathon aiming to take on a Guinness world record: the fastest half marathon in a suit.

It’s a little crazy, but for a good cause. I’m doing it to raise awareness for fragile X syndrome. My son has this condition and I daily get to watch the joys and the challenges that make up his life. This condition means he is missing just one of thousands of proteins. Yet this one vital for normal brain development. This holds him and others back in a way that doesn’t seem fair. In a similar but much lesser degree, my suit will hold me back and be a constant reminder throughout the race.

Another record breaker spoke of the cognitive dissonance of this record; of wanting to take off the suit jacket but then reminding himself of needing to keep it on to meet the record rules. This idea of cognitive dissonance made me think of the parallels of what I’ve read of the neurology of fragile X syndrome. Coupled with the fact that the record is just within my reach (2 minutes off my personal best) inspired me to give it a try.

I am excited that lots of people are getting behind this attempt, including friends, sponsors and media in Sydney and in Hong Kong. The record was broken just last month in Reading at 1 hr 18'15", so I’m going to need this whole team behind me to hit the goal.

As well as awareness raising I’m also fundraising for the Fragile X Association of Australia. This is the first time I’ve fundraised for them and I'm excited to be helping raise much needed funds to support their work.

For more info see my fundraiser page: https://smh2016halfmarathon.everydayhero.com/au/half-marathon-in-a-suit

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