Marathons and motivation.

Apologies for the photo. It's a lot harder than you'd think to manage to take a nice photo of your bra.

We've finally reached the day before the big walk. For those of you who haven't been following my journal, tomorrow night I will be taking part in the Moonwalk. I will be power-walking a full marathon distance (26.2 miles) in a decorated bra (see above) to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research and care. It starts at midnight and all going according to plan, I'll be finishing at about 7:30am.

I won't be able to blip until Tuesday so I wanted to take the opportunity, before the marathon to explain a bit about why I'm doing it and what it means to me.

I've been fundraising for cancer charities for some time now. I did two 5k runs for Cancer Research in 2005 and 2006. At the time I thought this was quite a big deal, I'd never really ran anywhere other than to catch a bus.

In August 2006 I got a call I never expected. My mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I can't even begin to explain all the thoughts that went through my head at that point.

Over the next 7 months she underwent three operations before they were sure all the cancer had been removed and then an intensive course of radiotherapy. In the winter I saw an advert for a charity event that was happening in Edinburgh. Suddenly a 5k run seemed like nothing, I needed to do something more to help raise awareness and money to help people with breast cancer. So I enrolled to do a power walking marathon and in June 2007 I walked 26.2 miles, through the night, in a decorated bra. The last ten miles were pure hell, my legs burned, my feet ached, I honestly felt like I could not go on, but I did because deep in my heart I had to finish it, I had to finish for my mum, and for everyone else who's lives had been touched by the effects of cancer.

7 hours 20 minutes later, in floods of tears I finally crossed the finish line, collected my medal, reclaimed my bag and then quite literally passed out. To this day, it has been the most challenging thing I've ever done.

Always one for a challenge I'm doing it all again. I had hoped to reach my target of £500 but I guess money is tight this year, I'm still quite impressed with the £297 that I have raised (£368 with gift aid) because as I keep telling people in an attempt to get sponsorship, every little helps.

Thankfully my mum's cancer was picked up in the early stages during a routine mammogram, she pulled through and is now approaching 3 years cancer free. She is a fantastic lady, I look up to her and admire her greatly. She is my inspiration.

This is for you mum x