What's your name and which part of London do you live in?
Stephanie Hay. I'm from Romford (London Borough of Havering!).
How long have you been running for?
I started running in December when I found out I had got a place in the Marathon. Before that I was just a regular gym goer.
Is this your first Marathon?
Yeah, this is my very first Marathon, and even my first long-distance run.
What inspired you to enter the Marathon?
Family members had run the Marathon when I was a child and a friend did it two years ago. Then I watched it last year and it was such an emotional experience to watch just on the TV and my best friend suggested we enter for this year, unfortunately she didn't get a place, but I'm sure she'll try again next year!
Are you running for charity?
I am running for CLIC Sargent who give support to children with cancer and their families.
In 2003 my cousin Bradley was diagnosed with cancer, he fought long and hard and in 2005 we were very lucky to hear that he was in remission. Now in 2007 I want to help those people that helped him and his family come through one of the toughest experience of their lives.
CLIC Sargent is just one of the organisations to help cancer sufferers; they help families and children going through these terrible illnesses.
Do you have a funny training story you'd like to share?
Unfortunately I have been training on my own so no real funny stories to share although it has been fun running with red laces as you can spot first time Marathon runners a mile off!! Also, as I have been training on my own I have used the Flora First Timers Forum to talk to other marathon runners about my experience along the way, and really without the advice and inspiration and the laughs from the people on the forum I think this journey would have been a lot harder than it has!
What time are you hoping for on Sunday?
Im hoping to make it round in 5 hours.
Do you have any post-Marathon celebrations planned?
Well as I haven't been drinking since the end of January I will be looking forward to a nice glass of bubbly with my friends and family at the end.
Will you be running again next year?
Never say never!!
Visit Steph's Justgiving sponsorship page here.
Image adapted from "Running" by Auntie P under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
