UPDATE: I completed the marathon in 04:58:37. Not as fast as I hoped for, but it was rather warm which made it more tiring.

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Nearly four years ago, I entered the London Marathon for the first time - and was rejected. So I did the Edinburgh Marathon instead.

Then I applied again, and was rejected again. In that time I ran the Dublin and Paris marathons.

Then I applied again and was rejected for a third time. So I ran the Dublin and Paris marathons again and also the Berlin marathon for the first time.

I had almost given up hope of getting into London when, last year, I got the "Congratulations" magazine, which means I'm in!

So, finally, I'll now be able to complete in this legendary race. It's the whole reason I started running in the first place.

That doesn't mean that the training gets any easier after six marathons. In fact, this training cycle has been the hardest yet.

Mental and physical exhaustion, illness and old recurring injuries - not to mention training through one of the coldest Winters on record - have made this one of the most difficult marathons I've had to train for.

Why am I running?

I'll be running in memory of my grandparents, who both died from dementia.

My grandparents, Raymond and Betty Frost, both suffered terribly with the disease and were eventually taken by it. They were childhood sweethearts who married young and stayed together for the rest of their lives, never moving away from where they were born and raised. My grandfather was a proud man and to see him lose control over his emotions and his memory was a dreadful experience which no-one should have to go through.

Raymond was a proud, hardworking man who fought in the Second World War and even played a part in the D-Day landings. After the war he married his childhood sweetheart, Betty and had two children. They celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 2002, however it was clear then they were already in the early stages of the condition and struggling to cope on their own. Raymond died in 2006 after a long struggle with the condition and Betty died earlier last year. That's why I'm running for the Alzheimer's Society.

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