Sophie Raworth's Blog by Sophie_Raworth

Well I am packed and ready to run.  I went to the Excel centre with my friend Charlie to pick up our numbers and the timing chips for our shoes. Now, with 24 hours to go, I am feeling surprisingly calm. My biggest stress for the past fortnight has been simply getting to the start line in one piece. I hadn't realised how anxious I would get at the thought of falling ill or getting injured. This week alone, I have torn my calf muscle only to find it was miraculously repaired three hours later and woken up with a terrible cold, which not surprisingly had vanished by lunchtime.  My poor trainer, Karen Weir, has been bombarded by a series of texts and phone calls outlining the latest crisis.  By the end of the week, even I was laughing as I consulted her on my newest ailment.  So now that I have made it to the eve of the Virgin London Marathon, strangely I find I am actually relaxing.

I've done very little running this week. I went out for 30 minutes on Tuesday and then opted for the cross-trainer after that (less risk of injury!). Instead I've been concentrating my efforts on trying to remember where all my friends and family will be standing along the route. My goddaughter, Catherine has made life easier. She and her sister have been busy making a wonderful banner which they'll be holding high in Greenwich.  'Go! Go! Go! Sophie', it says.  Make sure you give them a wave if you see them as you run past.

I've also been incredibly touched by the amount of money people have so generously sponsored me. I broke through the £11,000 barrier today, helped by a great cake sale in the BBC newsroom. One of our studio directors, Janet, was up half the night baking amazing goodies to entice us all. My fellow presenter, Emily Maitlis, even drafted in her kids on a morning off for a hard sell. Within, three hours, they'd sold £300 worth of buns and cheesecake all in aid of Cancer Research.  I have also had wonderful donations, big and small, from people I have never even met, but who've been reading this blog. If you are one of them, I can't thank you enough.

So, now I just need to run. I will be setting off with Charlie from green start at 9.45am after a quick TV interview with Sue Barker at 9.15 (just to pile on the pressure!).  We hope to be in the Mall by 2pm. My family and kids will all be there waiting for me.  Patrick, the husband of our friend Sam, who died of cancer last summer will also be standing there with their two children. If I don't cry when I cross the finish line, seeing them will probably finish me off.  I have loved the ups and downs of training over the past six months. I have thoroughly enjoyed your company and support along the way. Now I am off to run the furthest I have ever run in my life.  And as I go, I shall be thinking of Sam Glynn-Jones, Suzy Barratt and Katie Mortimer, three wonderful women and mothers, who all died far too young from cancer.