My name is Michelle Saunders and as you all know I love a challenge. I recently came back from India and my friend asked if i would join her in a run - so i agreed thinking i had lots of time to prepare - yet i was wrong - only 5 weeks to plan for a 10km run. The run is taking place at west park on Sunday 3rd September.

Anyone who knows - knows i like a challenge so i thought - why not lets give it a go - so my training has commenced and every morning at 4:30am i am out preparing myself for the task ahead.

But then i thought - i'm not just gonna do this for myself - Lets raise some funds for some amazing charities / clubs and let me help others.

Through work - Birmingham childrens hospital are our chosen charity and we are looking to raise a significant amount throughout the year to help fund a new incubator for the childrens ward. As you know these machines are life saving to those with newborns - and having children myself i wanted to give something back.

Second charity i will be supporting is thejodieloufoundation. This is a registered charity that is close to my heart as it was set up by my friends daughter after she lost her leg to bone cancer at the age of 15 after hurting it on a trampoline - she was so lucky to survive but she battled all the odds and fought through it all and now she is doing amazingly well and trains hard with her new running blade. This charity helps other children across the country who is also suffering what my friends daughter went through but who also are less fortunate and will help to fund last wishes for those whose illnesses are terminal.

Thirdly - a small proportion of the monies raised will also be going to my lads local football team to help fund training kits and annual trophies for the lads as the team have only been together just over one year and have come on so much and are an amazing group of lads all under the age of 8. The coaches volunteer their own time twice a week to train the lads and find them suitable leagues and matches to compete in and have done a fantastic job to date.

Therefore - i am pushing myself to the max to run as much of the 10km as i can and i know times are not important its the taking part and finishing that counts - I am pushing myself hard to try to complete my first ever race in less than 1hr 45mins.

So please family, friends, colleagues, please dig deep and help support me on this challenge.

BRING IT ON............