In getting my head around the fact that I’m embarking on this long journey to complete a 26 mile run around London (the Virgin London Marathon in case you missed my last column) I have taken on board something a friend - who just happens to be a personal trainer - said.

“You know you can walk 26 miles,” he said. “You’re just going to run it!”

Easy for him to say! But then personal trainer type people always do find these things easier to say.

But it has completely shaped how I go about preparing for the marathon both physically and mentally.

Training is very much in the pre-training stage at the moment.

I trained hard for the Windsor Half-Marathon last month and that was my goal then. Now I am in a state of trying to maintain my fitness through these winter months and start clocking up some miles each week before the 17 week marathon countdown grueling sessions begin on December 28.

Something else that was said to me recently (by my chiropractor who has become my new best friend/confidante/health adviser and general go-to about anything health related not least because it’s easier to get an appointment with her than my own doctor - but that’s a whole other column and rant) that has helped me mentally prepare for my training.

She said that completing the marathon was not about getting a good time. It was about my health and fitness and improving both of those to the state that I can physically run a marathon.

These two sets of wise words are at the forefront of my mind when I run at the moment. I am enjoying my autumn runs. Especially as the cold winds and icy mornings have yet to set in.

I am trying to do between 20 and 26 miles a week. This is through a combination of runs (a couple of seven mile runs), cycling (six miles taking the kids to and from school) and then whatever I can clock up in the gym (a mix of rowing machine, cross trainer and treadmill).

On top of that I attend weekly Pilates classes which help with the stretching and stomach muscles.

It may sound a lot but I can fit my runs in while the children are at school and nursery, the cycling is obviously transporting them to said institutions and then the gym session is usually a Friday night after work while husband goes to pick the kids up from the in-laws.

The main thing I am trying to do is to complete my training without it impacting on my family.

After all, I am a mother, wife, part-time worker, homemaker and general dogsbody to children first - and marathon runner in training second!

REBECCA CURLEY