I have had a hard time with my training since Xmas. January brought shin splints, February brought viruses, and March saw the onset of tendon problems.

I was intending to run a 16.5 mile race at Oakley, Bedford in early March, but because of my shin problems I decided to train on grass around the Priory Park in Reigate instead. Unfortunately, this training run of about 16 miles brought on my tendon problems in my left leg, and from this point I took over a week off from my training, and then started running short distances again. However, I've been dogged with this injury ever since.

For the rest of March, I ran a maximum distance of eleven miles. I was hoping to run the Gatwick half marathon yesterday, but again I missed it because of the problems I have with my legs. However, I ran in the Gatwick Fun Run instead, which is a race of three and a half miles distance, which was quite fun, racing against a lot of children, some of which who beat me!

My plan now is to run some more training sessions of between five and ten miles, and to put in a few evenings training on grass with the athletics club. I feel that trying to achieve any more may risk my whole marathon debut. I am confident that I will start the 2000 London Marathon.

I have realised that I can eat before running, so I intend to eat a good breakfast on marathon morning. I will then take the train from Redhill to London Bridge, and from there I will use the trains provided to take the runners to the start of the event. I've found that I can drink the energy drinks that are provided en route, so I intend to use them. The plan so far is to try to set off on the marathon doing about nine minute miles, and from there to see how it goes.

The total sponsorship amount has improved somewhat in the last month, and it is my expectation that I will reach my aim of 1400 pounds by April 16th. I sent some letters to local companies to see if any of them would like to sponsor me, and I had one reply, which made all of my effort letter writing worth while. A big thank you to the firm in question, who I will not name just in case they don't want me to. I am now busy finding the final ways that I can raise sponsorship to reach my target. I still have some ideas, but time is of the essence. I hope that I'll be in the "Friday-Ad" freebie magazine this week, with a small advert asking for sponsorship. I'll be interested to know if anything comes of it, but I'm trying other things too.

To make this a more memorable occasion, I thought that I would choose a fancy running livery. I am trying to order a Day-Glo yellow running kit, and I will also be dyeing my hair a yellow colour (or at least as white as I can make it), so if you watch the event on television, you can look out for me!

My next news letter will be directly after the London Marathon, hopefully together with pictures of the event. After this time, I will start the next big task - gathering all of the sponsorship funds!