A MIDLIFE crisis prompted a father-of-two from Bury to get his trainers on and run 12 marathons in as many months.

Mark Simpson (40), of Brierfield Road, Walmersley, is halfway through the marathon personal challenge.

He has completed six marathons in the last six months.

He ran his seventh in Edinburgh on Sunday and has decided to use his challenge to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

It follows the death of wife Anne's uncle, Alan Holden, from cancer.

Mark said: "I started this as a personal challenge following a bit of a midlife crisis.

"I had a few too many on my 40th birthday and a friend and I got all brave and came up with the idea just to prove something to ourselves.

"We didn't want to do it for charity because we thought the pressure to complete the challenge would take the fun out of it.

"It had been five years since I'd last run a marathon and I didn't want to let people down so I kept the challenge to myself.

"But after Alan passed away a few weeks ago I decided we should use it to help Marie Curie, even if it means there's more pressure on us to complete it.

"Alan was able to stay at home with his family during his final days and was able to die with dignity thanks to the Marie Curie nurses."

Mark picked up an injury at marathon number five in Rotterdam in March but still went on to complete the Blackpool marathon in three hours and 22 minutes last month.

He said: "My times are remaining quite steady.

"I'm not making any improvement because I'm not training solidly like I would for a one-off marathon.

"I can't normally face running again for a few days after each event.

"I'm aching a lot more than I was six months ago and I've picked up a few niggles that don't seem to be going away because they don't have time to recover between races.

"I just have to hope I can get through the next six races without making them worse."

To make a donation, please contact Holly Smith at Marie Curie Cancer Care on (0161) 255 2809.