Today, we handed over the funds raised for Mind in Somerset - an amazing total of £7,900.34.

MY STORY - and lots of THANK YOUs

Since I was a little boy I've always wanted to run and said to my dad when he was dying, I would run the London Marathon for you.

I was shocked when ‘Mind’ asked me to run but was delighted to get this opportunity and said yes.

My dad suffered from depression and I've had periods of anxiety and Mind supports people with these problems. I would like to thank Ian and Patricia Prowse for all their hard work supporting me with fundraising and helping me around London – along with my mate Dave Cornelius from Shepton - and of course my mum, who was always there when I was struggling and feeling low, and my cousin Amy Brister for her constant encouragement.

A big thank you also to Jasmine Pierce at Synergy Gym in Ilminster, who organised my programme of training for the marathon and my running club, Minster Milers who helped with my running.

I would like to thank Danni Gearing at the Duke of York, Shepton Beauchamp for organising the race night and Bingo at which we raised £1,600 and thank you everyone who donated prizes and money to my gift page.

Altogether we raised £7,900.34. My aim was to run the marathon in under 4 hours and I still can’t believe that I completed it in 3 hours and 48 minutes.

PREVIOUSLY . . .

The BIG DAY - Sunday 26th April - has crept up so fast and it all happened TODAY. It looks like all that working hard on my fitness and stamina, going to the Gym and of course running - and avoided drinking - paid off and I achieved a Personal Best (1st Marathon in any case but a target of 4 hours) of 3 Hours, 48 Minutes and 58 Seconds.

On Friday, I travelled up with mate Dave who is really well organized and I signed-in at EXCEL in East London to collect my running bib with my number 42489.

Staying in a room at the Pub in Ealing for the Marathon weekend, there was a bit of time to explore London and find out where to go - especially the Finishing Line in The Mall, just in front of Buckingham Palace - and where to meet up aftrwards.

It was an early start catching the tube at 6.40 and arriving at Blackheath with thousands of others at the Blue Start just after 8 and ready to start at 10.00.

Thank you if you download the TCS London Marathon App - I remembered to turn on the GPS on my phone so that you could track me around the course - and thank you if you sent encouraging messages that popped on message boards around the course.

Thank you EVERYONE for the donations for Mind in Somerset which are arriving literally every hour - £500 in the last week alone. And thank you for all the Facebook and other messages which are a real encouragement. I think that when tomorrow comes, I might start to feel a bit less nervous and having met up with others taking part, I am starting to to look forward to it.

The story:

Last year, thanks to all the kind support from friends, family and businesses, I managed to raise more than £3,500 for Mind in Somerset. The highlight was my Wing Walk which was much more scary than I thought it would be - but looking back, it was an amazing experience. Thank you all.

I have been applying for the last 10 years or so in the London Marathon Ballot without success - again no success this year - but Mind in Somerset has kindly passed over their place to me for which I have agreed to raise £2,500 on their behalf. So I thought I might as try for £3,000 and hope to smash that as well.

I also arranged a Bingo Night at the Duke of York in Shepton Beauchamp booked for 15th December which raised £1,600 added to the total - and am holding a charity Race Night there on Saturday 4th April starting at 7pm.

Thanks in anticipation; lots of training needed so better start doing it seriously.