To what purpose?

I mentioned previously that I have not had a life-long ambition to run the marathon.  I used to enjoy a morning run, about 7K or so, along quiet country lanes, but a city run amidst crowds and pollution would not normally strike me as an attractive proposition, even if I were fit - which I am not.

But of course I do have some purpose.  Yes, I was carried away by the spirit of the thing after the 2012 London Marathon and Richard's successful performance.  That, however, does not constitute purpose - it's a year on, and the emotions have long since faded.  So why am I running?

In fact, I already knew what I wanted to do when I was watching Richard run.  It's not the running - it's the support for a favourite charity that attracts me.  You raise funds, you publicise your chosen cause through fundraising and running in their jersey (and blogging about them).  And I know my cause - I want to run for Alzheimer's research.

Conveniently, there really is a charity in this country that does exactly that: Alzheimer's Research UK.  They don't spend money on hospices, nursing care, advice lines, or any of those other important but fundamentally short-term fixes.  They fund quality research into the causes, diagnosis, treatments, and prevention - activities with long-term value.

Right side normal, left shows shrinkage due to Alzheimer's 

And this is a phonemenally exciting time for Alzheimer's research!  Scientists are finally beginning to understand the chemical mechanisms that lead to the creation of the characteristic amyloid plaques that stop brain cells from working properly, destroying old memories and preventing new ones from being laid down.  Now that they have a grip on the pathways that lead to Alzheimer's disease, they have a chance to find ways to put obstacles in that path - to stop Alzheimer's in its tracks.  It could potentially even mean rolling the disease back, perhaps one day even curing it.  In short, the work that is being done now is extremely productive, because it is far more likely to result in successful treatment of this awful disease than research 10 years ago.  Money invested is money well spent.

Moreover, the UK is a good place to invest your research money.   Scientific articles in the dementia field here are very high quality - with a citation impact (how often other articles refer to yours) second only to Sweden's, and above that of the USA.  This is nothing to get patriotic about - dementia research benefits everyone around the world - medical research advances are a product available to all.  Investing where the research produces the highest quality results makes sense, and Alzheimer's Research UK is the leading charity providing funding in this area.

Of course, I am not only attracted to this area because investing in this research has high returns.  Granted, with my MBA, I do think about value.  But the real reason I am so interested is that my father has Alzheimers - and his mother had vascular dementia, two of my mother's uncles had Alzheimer's... in other words, it's really common in my family.  Yes, there is a large helping of self-interest in all of this.  Although it's undoubtedly too late for research to help my father, it could help many of my other relatives, and perhaps even me one day.  And perhaps you.